Despite the hubbub which preceded it the EU referendum campaign only officially got underway on Friday 15th April, but it was a certain US President’s input which has had perhaps the greatest effect on betting. 
Barack Obama issued something of a warning regarding the difficulty of trade deals between the US and Britain should Brexit go ahead. He stated that deals would be able to be made faster with the EU than an independent Britain.
As with the Scottish referendum, such a major and divisive campaign is once again drawing bettors to the bookies. The overwhelmingly vast majority of money placed appears to be on the Boris Johnson backed Brexit to fail, and the Remain vote to succeed.
This number too has been significantly on the up since Barack Obama’s speech last week.
William Hill spokesperson Graham Sharpe said: “The betting market was reflecting the opinion polls by and large, until Mr Obama intervened, since when it has been one-way traffic with an overwhelming swing towards Remain. Astonishingly enough, 84% of the stake money we have taken – but only 37% of the individual bets – have been for Remain.”
Head of Political Betting at Ladbrokes Matthew Shaddick told the International Business Times UK: “The odds for remain have fallen drastically in the last three or four days, at least some of that you can put down to Obama. There have been an awful lot of people place quite a lot of money on ‘remain’ since last week.”
This referendum has also seen the largest known single bet by a female bettor, with a customer in Central London putting down £100,000 for Remain with William Hill.
Currently odds are at their shortest for Remain at 1/4 for Remain, whilst William Hill is offering the longest odds on Leave since the date was confirmed at 3/1. The referendum will take place on June 23rd.
Source: SBC News
