Bookies have election racehorses neck and neck
The election appears to be a closely fought race... - Credit: Getty Images/TongRo Image Stock RF
Bookmakers expect to take £100m in General Election bets
Bookmakers are seeing more betting than ever before on the General Election – with the result still too close to call.
William Hill reports up to £25million of bets riding on the outcome and has said there is every chance the 2015 election will produce exactly the same result nationally as 2010.
The betting giant said there had not been a great deal of activity in North Devon, with backing showing for the Liberal Democrats, but they were not the favourites.
The Conservatives currently have odds of 8/15 and the Lib Dems 11/8.
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“The final major gamble of the election campaign has seen our odds for a repeat of the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition shorten consistently from 6/1 at the end of April to under half of those odds at just 11/4 and now, on the eve of voting that option is the shortest odds it has been,” said spokesman Graham Sharpe.
A Labour minority government is the narrow favourite at 15/8, although the odds have lengthened from 7/4.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband both have odds of 10/11 to be Prime Minister on August 1.
Nationwide, £100m is expected to be placed on the election according to the 2015 Unibet Election Index – three times more than 2010.
It said over the past two Elections, bookies had called results more accurately than pollsters.
‘More accurate than the polls’
According to election bookmaker Ed Nicholson, bookies are not trying to accurately predict the outcome on future events, they are merely reflecting the views of millions of people.
“This makes the bookies the best barometer of public opinion,” he said.
“Pollsters ask for opinions of a select sample of a few thousand people but there are no real consequences of people changing their mind.
Laying a bet requires the punter to really put their money where their mouth is.”
