Though the results of voting in London's mayoral election is still hours away as of this writing (approximately 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, 6 p.m. British time), one source has claimed it knows the winner already: Paddy Power Plc, Ireland's largest bookmaker.

Mixing metaphors a bit, Paddy Power pronounced it would be paying out all those fortunate enough to have wagered on Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson: "After the kick in the ballots that Labour has had overnight, we expect Boris to put the final nail in their local elections coffin."

With about 62% of local councils reporting, the Labour party - party of current prime minister Gordon Brown - figures to lose some 144 seats in Parliament (138 of which will be picked up by the archenemy Conservative Party), while garnering just a third-best 24% of the overall vote in England and Wales.

Paddy Power had odds of 4-11 on Johnson at the start of the day Thursday; on that day, however, Labour took a "mauling" in Paddy Power's prose, producing their worst electoral showing in local elections since the late 1960s. Over at BetFair (and presumably other British bookies as well), bets are still being taken on the mayoral candidates' chances. At BetFair, Johnson's currently sitting at 1:12.

Paddy Power has been making a habit out of early payouts in political races as of late; back on January 7, a day before the New Hampshire primary, the bookmaker declared the Democratic Party race over in America.

"From a betting point of view we reckon that it's game over for Hillary," argued the bookmaker. "With each passing day, Obama is looking more like a certainty to get the Democratic vote and as far as we're concerned, he's already past the post."

As for prospective mayor Johnson, he's taking the, well, politic approach to his party's success thus far: "I think the party's done fantastically nationally but London is a very different kettle of fish. We'll have to see what happens."