The Hill News

Late into Tuesday night, the hard-fought Iowa caucuses were too close to call, with Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney trading single-digit voting leads as results trickled in from each of the Hawkeye state's 99 counties. But while Mitt Romney ultimately eked out an eight-vote win, the result wasn't convincing enough to lock up the nomination for the former Massachusetts governor - or betters who had wagered on the Iowa results.

Paddy Power, an Irish betting company that took wagers on the Iowa caucuses, said Wednesday that they would refund bets to customers who favored Santorum in the first-in-the-nation nominating contest, saying the eight vote difference was too small a margin.

“Having lost by only 8 votes the Rick Santorum supporters had every reason to be disappointed but as far as we’re concerned the margin for error is just too small and we’ve decided to refund the money," said a spokesman for the group in a statement.

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