In the end even the bookies couldn't pretend: the measly eight votes separating Mitt Romney from Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses hardly constituted a win or a lose.

Realizing this Paddy Power, the biggest Irish betting agency, bit the bullet and refunded over $6,000 to startled customers who had backed Santorum to win Tuesday’s Republican showdown in Iowa.

Santorum lost the primary by eight votes, but the Irish bookies thought the margin was too  small to take bettors’ money.

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'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,' the company said in a statement on its website.

Bettors thinking of backing Santorum again in next week’s New Hampshire primary learned yesterday they would be given 16/1 odds by Paddy Power, Romney is the favorite at 1/25, while Ron Paul has 20/1.

Paddy Power has a history of picking winners and currently lists President Obama as 8/11 favorite to win re-election in November, while the odds of Romney or Santorum taking his job are 13/8 and 25/1, respectively.