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Aussie punter puts $180,000 on PM election win
A confident punter Wednesday slapped a whopping $200,000 (US $182,000) bet on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to win August 21 elections, topping a sudden rash of wagers for the ruling party.
Sportingbet said the big flutter followed an earlier $100,000 wager and pushed Gillard's Labor Party down to odds of $1.45 per dollar bet, while the opposition Coalition blew out to 2.65.
Chief executive Michael Sullivan said it showed "the tide has certainly turned for Labor in the minds of punters" after Gillard struggled in the opening weeks of campaigning.
"Punters very rarely get it wrong when they bet like this," Sullivan told the West Australian newspaper.
"Over the last fortnight we couldn't find anyone to back the government, but they seem to have stemmed the bleeding in their campaign and punters have responded in astounding fashion," he added.
Rival Sportsbet's Haydn Lane said the conservatives also appeared to have run out of luck with his members, with 95 per cent of bets in the past two days favouring Labor.
"We found it hard to write a bet on Labor for almost two weeks, however, that trend has completely reversed in the past 48 hours," said Lane.
Labor was on 1.42 to win while opposition leader Tony Abbott's odds had blown out to 2.80.
Centrebet said the party had experienced its biggest wagers since Gillard deposed ex-leader Kevin Rudd in a June party coup, with $60,000 placed on her to win on Tuesday.
Gillard's has made strong appearances on two popular TV programmes in the past two days, while Abbott floundered over details of his new national broadband scheme when quizzed by veteran ABC interviewer Kerry O'Brien.