This is a story I came across that is actually not from the Onion. Bookmaker Paddy Power of Ireland has been known to do this in the past in order to generate headlines.
A prominent bookmaker on Tuesday declared the U.S. election a foregone conclusion, opting to pay out more than $1 million to gamblers who have bet on victory by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Republican rival Donald Trump on Nov. 8.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said it made the move after odds of a Trump victory all but collapsed.
Current odds at the bookmaker give Trump an 18% chance of winning. Remember, a good bookmaker sets odds in order to have an equal pile of money on both sides of the bet. Not always possible. Somehow, they still allow bets on this.
In my opinion, the reason Paddy Power is paying some bets early is to get money back into the hands of good customers early so they can place bets on other things. They make more juice that way. No reason to tie up bettor’s money for another three weeks. Let it churn. As they say in the gambling industry, it always comes back.