Matthew Klan is $100,000 richer thanks to Donald Trump.

Sportsbet punter Matthew Klan, 39, put down $27,000 over several bets on the billionaire, the first at the beginning of the year before he even won the Republican nomination.

Mr Klan, who quit his physiotherapy job to become a “fulltime investor”, said he usually never bets — except on elections, property and the stock market.

“The complete uniformity of opinion that Trump couldn’t win was what made me excited to do the bet in the first place,” he said.

“I was certain that I was looking at an ‘emperor has no clothes’ situation — it was like finding a gem that everyone else was overlooking. The polls and the betting markets were massively underestimating Trump’s chances.”

Collectively, Aussie bookmakers Sportsbet, TAB and William Hill paid out $18 million to Trump backers this week. Sportsbet paid out $11 million, TAB $4 million and William Hill $3 million.

Mr Klan said he was drawn to Mr Trump because “despite what you hear in the news, [he] is a pretty smart guy”. “He noticed the same trends I did,” he said.

“I watch what’s happening in the world pretty closely. I called the GFC early in 2002. Debt and demographics made a big correction at the end of the decade inevitable. A lot of people were talking about it, I wasn’t the only one by far to notice that, but strangely everyone seemed in denial that anything would happen.

“Brexit made me realise that I was seeing the same thing all over again. There were trends developing in Europe that once again everyone was in denial about. I didn’t place a bet on Brexit, but when Trump came out and identified some of the same things I was seeing, I made sure I placed a bet.”

In the lead-up to this week’s historic vote, which stunned the pollsters, pundits, bookmakers and financial markets, opinion was near unanimous that Mr Trump had virtually zero chance of taking the White House.

Well this is awkward. Picture: Jim Watson/AFPSource:AFP

Asked if he was scared he might lose, Mr Klan said “scared isn’t the right word”. “But I was definitely emotionally spent,” he said.

“I usually don’t care when I’ve got money out that I might ‘lose’. When you buy a property or stocks you know you are taking a calculated risk, but you don’t have every pundit, pollster and professional in the world trying to convince you that you’re an idiot and you can’t possibly win.

“While I’ve put more down on stocks, this was the largest ‘bet’ I’ve made. Usually I’d just hedge my stocks, but this election was unique.”

He said he told his parents on Wednesday night. “They were pretty happy. They knew I had the bet on for a while, last week I tried to goad the old man into putting some money down — he was a little sad he didn’t.

“I told him if he ponied up $100,000 I’d match him and we could make $1 million in a week. I was kind of joking. I wish I wasn’t.”

And true enough, three punters actually did put down $100,000, walking away with $500,000, $450,000 and $380,000 each. The biggest loss of the election was thought to be Sportsbet punter who put down $250,000 on Hillary Clinton.

The bookie said it had multiple bets upwards of $100,000 on the Democratic candidate. A TAB punter also lost $74,000.

“My friends — the ones who didn’t think I was mad — were stoked,” Mr Klan said. “I actually encouraged a few of them to have a punt — one guy won about $25,000, I think.”

Mr Klan said he would “probably buy something” for his “long-suffering girlfriend”. “Maybe some jewellery — perhaps a ring?” he said. “I got lucky, it’s only fair she does too right?”

Sportsbet spokesman Ben Bulmer described it a remarkable victory. “What a day it has been and what a four years we have ahead of us,” he said on Wednesday. “The punters beat us, with more than 25,000 Aussies successfully predicting the outcome of the election despite the weight of public opinion suggesting Trump was no chance. Well played.”

frank.chung@news.com.au