US president election 2016: Donald Trump reaches highest chance yet to be elected president over Hillary Clinton according to Betfair exchange
This may not be the relaxing, light-hearted news you probably wanted to hear on a dull Friday afternoon, but Donald Trump has reached his highest chance yet to be elected president – at least according to the Betfair exchange.
Trump is now trading at 15/8 odds, equivalent to a 34 per cent chance, on Betfair's gambling exchange.
These are the highest odds yet on the platform for the Republican presidential candidate.
Hillary Clinton had been trading at a one in four or 79 per cent chance in August. However, the bets in her support have slid since she had to leave a 9/11 event early and confirmed she was suffering from pneumonia, letting Trump gain ground on his Democratic rival.
Read more: Should markets worry about the state of Hillary Clinton's health?
She now has a roughly 62 per cent chance of winning the upcoming election where Betfair's trading is concerned, with £5m alone having been traded this week on the platform's Next President market.
While bookies have been notoriously wrong at predicting such massive recent events as the pro-Brexit referendum vote (pollsters, we're looking at you too), Clinton's collapse at the 9/11 memorial event has also cost her points according to the latest stateside poll.
In a poll from the LA Times and USC Tracking, Trump was six points ahead of Clinton on 47 to her 41.
Read more: UN high commissioner compares Trump and Farage to Isis
A Fox News poll has also put him marginally ahead in the battle for the White House, on 46 to the Democratic nominee's 45.
However, a CNN poll released yesterday showed Clinton had 43 per cent of support from likely voters, while Trump had 41 per cent support.
Read more: Trump praises "wonderful" Mexico… then says it will pay for border wall
"With just over seven weeks till election day, the next president market alone has nearly surpassed the £40m traded overall across all presidential election markets in 2012," said Naomi Totten, spokesperson for Betfair.
"Political markets usually pick up pace in the two weeks prior to the main ballot day but the next president market has traded a staggering average of around £500k a day in September, with £1.5m traded on Sunday alone, and could easily be set to break the £127m record set by the EU referendum earlier this year."
For those who might need a little light relief upon hearing this news, you might want to buy a pack of Cards Against Humanity-inspired Trumped Up Cards, created by the founder and boss of LinkedIn.
