(3 March 2010 – Australia) A big spending Australian is A$30,000 out of pocket after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to hike rates yesterday after a pause the previous month.The man placed the A$29,500 wager with Centrebet, betting that the RBA would leave rates unchanged at their monthly policy meeting.
If the punter was right he was set to walk away with A$21,000.
A spokesman for Centrebet Neil Evans said that the punter was very confident. He placed four separate bets, continuing to pile in as the odds went down.
Another punter staked A$5000 on there being no change, another A$3500, Mr Evans said.
In total the betting public staked A$45,000 on no-change and only a couple of thousand on a move, Mr Evans added.
The central bank went against the punter raising the cash rate by 25 basis points to four percent saying that a serious economic contraction in Australia has passed, adding that economic conditions in 2009 had been stronger than expected.