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 as the PM of Israel says online prediction website PredictIt.org. The site, which sets its odds depending on public volume coming in 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, 2015.

Based on recent events, it appears that Netanyahu’s recent address before the US Congress had a big impact on the voters. Just before his address, public polls in Israel had the PM race a lot closer than the latest returns. PredictIt.org even posted his chances as being below 50% as recently as January 2015.

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 election betting prop in the UK. Fellow oddsmaker Betfair is also getting in on the action. According to CEO Breon Corcoran, Betfair has already received £2.2 million in bets on the company’s exchange and is expecting to generate close to £2.2 million £40 million in bets before the general election takes place on May 7.

Betfair is predicting that the elections will result in a hung parliament and the odds of that happening – 1/4 odds – indicate that such a scenario is the overwhelming favorite to happen. 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 2014 was an indication, it’s safe to say that Betfair’s odds are right in line with what’s expected to happen in the UK elections. Corcoran even said as much when he said that it expects its posted odds as a reflection of a similarly accurate outcome with the Scottish referendum, which Betfair supposedly called earlier than a lot of other oddsmakers.