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UK General Election – How will Labour fare?
This article first appeared at gambling.com on 3rd December. With a fortnight of campaigning left, there’s no doubt Labour are in a very bad place. On current estimates derived from YouGov’s MRP model, they will lose 51 seats, handing the Tories a majority of 68. As always in political betting on elections, remember to treat such projections…
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UK General Election: How will the Conservatives fare?
This article first appeared at gambling.com on November 27th 2019 There are numerous ways to get involved in political betting in an election, covering just about every angle of each party’s performance. But what is the best way to bet on a party you expect to go well? Take the example of the front-runners in the polls.…
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UK General Election: Overview and betting strategy
This article first appeared at The Hub, on Monday 25th November Last month, I explained how the United Kingdom’s Brexit impasse had prompted a General Election, scheduled for 12th December. Now, halfway through the campaign, let’s consider the hundreds of markets available on Betfair. All signals point towards a thumping Conservative win. They are between…
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UK General Election Constituency Guide Part 7
Bristol North West Click here for latest live odds This constituency should act as a warning to those predicting huge Tory majorities. It is Labour’s 41st most vulnerable to a Tory takeover but they should have high hopes of retaining it even on a terrible night. 26% of the population are under 35 and the…
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UK General Election Constituency Guide Part 6: Tories will be eyeing these ten Labour targets
Reading East Click here for latest live odds This was another massive upset in 2017 as Labour enjoyed a 10% swing from the Tories to regain a seat lost in 2005, despite winning nationally. That turnaround speaks volumes about how party affiliation has changed and in this 62% Remain seat, Brexit certainly appears to have…
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UK General Election Constituency Guide Part 4: CON-held Lib Dem targets ranked 11-20
This piece was first published on 19th November 2019 Cornwall North Click here for latest live odds Although relatively high on the Lib Dem target list, this is another Cornwall seat that will be very hard to pick up. The constituency voted 60% in favour of Leave in 2016 and the Tory majority is more…
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UK General Election Constituency Betting Part 3: Ten Labour seats in realistic range for the Tories
Peterborough Click here for latest live odds Peterborough is precisely the sort of seat where Tories are right to worry about the presence of Brexit Party, whose 29% in a by-election earlier this year was mostly achieved at Tory expense. While that enabled Labour to hold the seat despite their previous MP going to prison…
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Brexit Update: Labour’s clearer plan could prove significant
This piece was originally published on February 8th, 2019 for betting.betfair.com After months of uncertainty and speculation regarding several different outcomes to Brexit, we can all but rule one out. There will be no second referendum in 2020. As Donald Tusk said before his now infamous criticism of Brexiters without a plan, there is no…
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Five reasons to back Labour for the next election
After 18 months of relentless political drama, generating the biggest ever betting markets in our medium, the summer has felt slightly weird. Sure, there are ongoing Brexit negotiations, rumours of Tory leadership bids and daily Donald Trump developments but, on the political betting front, it has been relatively quiet. That’s because long-term markets will always…
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How electoral systems keep fooling betting markets
The US Election votes are still being counted but with each day that passes, this result looks ever more like the greatest electoral anomaly in living memory. Hillary Clinton is on course to win by the popular vote by around 2M votes, yet suffer a resounding 306-232 defeat in the electoral college. This isn’t an excuse. I argued many times…