40% chance of another summer heatwave, according to bookies

Bookmaker Paddy Power could face spectacular run of bad luck if the 2019 predictions contained in Old Moore’s Almanac ring true in the New Year.

The famous green book, founded by ‘The Irish Merlin’, Theophilus Moore, has been published for nearly two and a half centuries, and is famed for being eerily close to the bone in their forecasts.

So, betting firm Paddy Power have revealed the odds on the chances of some of their spooky predictions occurring across the next 12 months.

According to the almanac Ireland is on course for a cracking summer, and Paddy Power make it short odds of 6/4 (meaning there’s a 40% chance) we will sizzle our way past Ireland’s record breaking temperature of 33.3 °C at Kilkenny Castle, on 26 June 1887.

But at odds of 8/11, they believe there’s a better chance (a likelihood of almost 58%), that President Donald Trump will be acquitted of charges/impeachment.

According to Old Moore, there will be a second referendum on Brexit, and we make it a 5/4 chance for another In/Out EU Referendum to take place before the end of 2019.

They also prophesise that it is written in the stars that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will welcome a baby girl into the world, and that a second pregnancy will follow for the pair soon after this birth.

But Paddy Power make it long odds of 7/1 for both a girl to arrive, and Meghan to announce a second pregnancy before 2019 is out, having already suspended betting on the likelihood of the Royal’s welcoming double trouble in the form of twins.

On the sports front, Old Moore maintains that Dublin will complete the five-in-a-row in the 2019 All Ireland Football Championship, Tipperary will win the hurling and Ireland will go all the way in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. According to Paddy Power, the odds of all three occurring is 36/1.

And if you include their prediction that the Mayo Women’s team will reign supreme in Ladies Senior Football Championship, the odds jump to 150/1 for the four-timer.

“If Old Moore’s prophecies are correct, we predict that punters will be in for a major windfall in 2019. But we can’t exactly complain about the fact that we didn’t see it coming!” a spokesperson for Paddy Power said.

It’s also 5/1 that alien existence will be proven in 2019, 5/2 that there will be an Irish general election in 2019, odds-on at 1/3 that Leo Varadkar will remain on as Taoiseach after the next election, and long odds at 50/1 for a vote on Irish unification to pass in the next 12 months.