The politicians insist an opposition victory in next week’s Australian election is not a foregone conclusion. But one betting agency already is declaring a winner.
Sportsbet, Australia’s largest online betting agency, said Thursday it paid out more than A$1.5 million to punters who had backed Tony Abbott’s conservative opposition Liberal Party to win power at elections on September 7.
A victory by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s centre-left Labor Party is priced at A$11.50 - the longest odds since betting opened immediately after the last election in 2010. This compares with an opposition price on Thursday of A$1.03.
Betting odds have proved accurate indicators of how Australians intended to vote at past elections.
Sportsbet took the unprecedented step of paying out before a result because it was so confident of an election landslide, spokesman Haydn Lane said.
Rudd said while he was “not a big punter,” his government still had a chance to win a third three-year term.