One reason I think he may do it is that he's spoken out against the carried interest exemption for hedge funds. It seems obviously fair that hedge fundies should pay as much or more as doctors and nurses and the like but the mainstream politicians don't touch it because they want the campaign contributions and are scared of them funding their opponents instead. I'm hypothesising that the voters are fed up with their representatives being bought by wealthy special interests.
Odds are something like 15:1, so if you think it's 150:1 - or more - that's a 10x certain return. It's a no-brainer, in that case.
The point is that talk is cheap. Of course it's more likely that he won't become president, but don't rule out the chance that he might. If you do, it'd be wise to put your money where your mouth is.
You are right, talk is cheap and I am just shooting my mouth here, like everyone here.
It's a peer to peer platform. Approx £500k punted on the US president so far on betfair.
For what it's worth Nate Silver thinks he has no chance.
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/us-politics/us-president...
Lots of people taking bets.