Taking Bets? Bookies Give Clinton Long Odds
Hillary Clinton may be staying in the race, but she might be about the only one betting she’ll capture the presidency.
Bettors and bookies in the American prediction markets say the Democratic presidential candidate’s stock is plummeting.
The New York senator has about an 8.6 percent chance of winning the nomination, which means the former favorite is nearly finished. Intrade, which allows investors to buy and sell shares in the presidential candidates, gave Clinton a nearly 75 percent chance of securing the nomination just six months ago.
Following a huge defeat in North Carolina and a close scrape in Indiana, pundits and politicians are calling on Clinton to cede the race to Barack Obama, who is now seen as a sure bet by the markets.
Obama’s numbers are ascendant. Intrade gave him a 90 percent chance of securing the nomination Thursday — a near lock. John McCain, who has already gotten the nod from Republicans, is trading at 95.2 percent, barely above Obama.
London bookies, who take bets on everything from polo to politics, say Clinton has about a 5-1 chance of securing her party’s nomination.
Ladbrokes bookmakers have Clinton’s chances at 11-2, meaning that any $2 bet on a Clinton victory nets $11 for the bettor. William Hill bookmakers give Clinton slightly better odds at 5-1, but it’s still a near-complete reversal for the one-time front-runner.
That doesn’t mean all hope is lost for Clinton. During McCain’s long summer of discontent in 2007, his Intrade numbers dropped to as low as 2 percent. If her fortunes change, Clinton, now a long-shot, could end up being a bettor’s dream.
FOXNews.com’s Joseph Abrams contributed to this report.
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