Number of political bets expected to quadruple today
THE CONSERVATIVES are odds-on favourites at 8-13 with Betfair punters to win a majority at the upcoming General Election after Gordon Brown asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament today.
A Hung Parliament is now 2-1, whilst Labour look a long-shot for a majority, for which they are currently a 15-1 chance.
The race narrowed in the wake of Alistair Darling’s budget to a point where Labour were 3-1 to win the most seats, but if the betting is anything to go by David Cameron’s party has regained the initiative and are now 1-5 to be the biggest party in the Commons.
Betfair are expecting the volume of political bets to rise by four times today as customers not already interested in the betting markets decide to have a wager now the race is officially underway.
Betfair spokesman Mike Robb said: “We have been staggered by the amount of interest in betting on this election. Now that the starting gun has been formally fired we expect that interest to increase even more sharply, with the numbers of bets quadrupling today versus yesterday.
“As it stands in the betting, the Labour Party have it all to do in order to prevent the Conservatives winning a majority, though a Hung Parliament is a definite possibility at 2-1.”
For a live graph of the betting and key polls, go to www.electionpredict.com
Next General Election Overall Majority – Betfair bet: 8-13 Conservatives, 2-1 Hung Parliament, 15-1 Labour
Next General Election Most Seats – Betfair bet: 1-5 Conservatives, 11-2 Labour, 239-1 Lib Dems
Seats In House of Commons – Betfair bet: 334 Conservatives, 224 Labour, 59 Lib Dems, 9 SNP, 5 Plaid Cymru, 7 DUP
2 Elections In 2010? – Betfair bet: 1-6 No, 6-1 Yes
BNP To Win A Seat? – Betfair bet: 2-7 No, 7-2 Yes
Green Party To Win A Seat? – Betfair bet: 5-6 No, 6-5 Yes
UKIP To Win A Seat? – Betfair bet: 1-3 No, 3-1 Yes
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About Betfair: (www.betfair.com)
Betfair is the world’s biggest online sports betting company and pioneered the first successful betting exchange in 2000. Driven by cutting-edge technology, Betfair enables customers to choose their own odds and bet even after the event has started. The company now processes over six million transactions a day from its two million registered customers around the world. In addition to sports betting, Betfair offers a portfolio of innovative products including casino, exchange games and poker.
Betfair has twice been named the UK’s ‘Company of the Year’ by the Confederation of British Industry and has won two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, being recognised for Innovation in 2003 and most recently for International Trade in 2008.
Betfair currently employs over 1,700 people, principally in London, Malta and Tasmania. The company is a licensed betting operator in the UK, and holds licenses in Australia, Germany, Austria, Italy and Malta.
For further information:
Mike Robb
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8834 6063
Mob: +44 (0) 7921 025678