Referendum gamble that paid off

CITY traders may be paid the big bucks, but it’s gamblers who saw Brexit coming first.

A study has found that those who placed bets on the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum got the Leave result right at around 3am on June 24. But it took traders in the City an hour longer to figure it out, potentially losing them millions of pounds.

Based on figures from online gambling firm Betfair, the odds shifted from Remain to Leave between 10pm and 3am.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge suggest traders may have been in a ‘bubble’, making them less able to predict real voters’ intentions.

It should have been possible to predict the Leave victory at 1am based on election results from regions across Britain.