Netanyahu heavily favored to remain Israel PM; Betfair joins in on UK election craziness

Netanyahu heavily favored to remain Israel PM; Betfair joins in on UK election craziness

Netanyahu heavily favored to remain Israel PM; Betfair joins in on UK election craziness Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the favorite to be re-elected, says prediction website PredictIt.org. The site, which sets its odds depending on public volume on either side of a specific bet offer, listed Netanyahu as an 81% favorite when the country holds its elections for the 20th Knesset on March 17.

It appears that Netanyahu’s recent address before the US Congress had a big impact on the voters. Before his address, public polls in Israel had the PM race a lot closer. PredictIt.org posted his chances as being below 50% as recently as January.

But over the past few weeks, that number has steadily gone up and it now appears that Netanyahu is all but certain to retain his status as Israel prime minister.

Speaking of election betting, UK bookmaker Ladbrokes isn’t the only one reaping the rewards of what has become an action-packed UK general election betting prop. Betfair CEO Breon Corcoran says his firm has already received £2.2 million in bets and is expecting to handle close to £40 million before the election takes place on May 7.

Betfair is currently pricing 1/4 odds that the election will result in a hung parliament. The betting company has also priced an overall Tory majority at 11/2 and an overall Labour majority at 18/1.

If the Scottish referendum last September – which Betfair called long before any pollster – was an indication, it’s safe to say that Betfair’s odds are a good a barometer as anything.