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Labour strong favourites in Glasgow East by-election betting

By Matt | July 23, 2008

The Labour Party is heavily favoured to win the Glasgow East by-election as the bookmakers slashed their odds on the last day of campaigning.

A political embarrassment for Gordon Brown’s government now looks unlikely – a far cry from earlier in the month when it seemed the Scottish National Party might snatch Labour’s second-safest seat in Scotland.

Labour are now a best-priced 4/11 with Bet365 to win in the constituency, with other bookies offering odds as short as 2/7. The SNP challenge has faded, and the nationalists are no better than 9/4 in the betting.

William Hill cut Labour to 3/10 from 1/3 after reporting a large number of political betting punters lumping on Labour. The firm was especially worried by the amount of locals they found betting on Labour.

Rupert Adams, a company spokesman, said money from local punters was normally an indicator of the way a by-election would go.

It looked like a political upset might be on the cards earlier in July when the Scottish Labour Party’s preferred candidate dropped out of the running, leaving the party red-faced and in limbo.

Topics: Political betting