Henley By Election - Who’s a Safe Bet?
June 23, 2008
Boris Johnson resigned his Parliamentary seat when he became London’s new Mayor, which is causing a by-election. The seat of Henley will be contested on June 26th, when voters will be asked to vote in a new Member of Parliament for their constituency.
Henley is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, when the voters last had to choose their MP in 2005, the Conservatives won 53.5% of the votes. The Lib Dems returned 26% of the votes with Labour in third place with 14.7%.
This time around many parties are fielding a candidate, though after the Conservatives stormed the Crewe and Nantwich By Election last month there’s really not much doubt that they won’t return a similar performance.
The candidates are as follows:
John Howell - Conservative
Richard McKenzie - Labour
Stephen Kearney - Liberal Democrats
Mark Stevenson - Green Party
Chris Adams - UKIP
Derek Allpass - English Democrats
Harry Bear - The Fur Play Party
Dick Rodgers - The Common Good
Bananaman Owen - Monster Raving Loony Party
Timothy Rait - British National Party
Just how bad could it get for the Labour Party?
Having polls which put their popularity into third place, Labour are facing an uphill struggle on June 26th. Could it be as bad as not even getting their deposit back? Well the bookies are offering bets on this. Ladbrokes are offering 1/3 on Labour losing their deposit, or 9/4 on them not. In order to have their deposit returned, Labour has to secure at least 5% of the votes.
Poor old Mr Brown, he may well have the most humiliating morning on his anniversary of being in Number 10. Exactly one year on he potentially faces not only a By Election defeat, but one in which his party couldn’t even get 5% of the voters to back them.
Place a bet on the outcome of the Henley By Election
Ladbrokes are also offering odds on the outcome of the Henley By Election. Currently you can get odds of 1/25 on the Conservatives winning the seat; 8/1 on Liberal Democrats taking the seat or 100/1 on Labour managing the near impossible task of winning the Henley By Election.
Check the latest odds on the Henley By Election
Big Brother: Mario is favourite to go
June 13, 2008
As we’ve already reported in our Big Brother Eviction betting post, Mario is favourite to get the boot in tonight’s Big Brother.
Paddy Power have been looking at what life after the house has in store for Mario, and what he coul go on to do when he has left the house. Paddy Power have created a betting market based on this, let’s take a look at what they think Mario might do when he leaves the house:
All of these markets are available as single bets only, and will be the first thing Mario does when he leaves the house. They must happen before June 2009 unless stated otherwise.
In top spot it’s Marrying Lisa. After Lisa had to watch Mario wed Stephanie in the Big Brother task this week, she must be really chomping at the bit to tie the knot with Mario, but will they do it before 2009? Odds of 7/4 say they will!
Next up we have Mario as a contestant on Anne Robinson’s show Celebrity Weakest link. If you think this is likely to be the first thing Mario does, then you can 2/1 with Paddy Power.
Relationships in/from the House don’t always work out. If you think that Mario and Lisa will split up before 2009 then you can get 4/1. Do you think Mario may have a different idea after tasting life married to a 19 year old?
The possibility of starring in Wife Swap is in fourth place with odds of 6/1. Maybe an ideal show for these pair after intimating they could be swingers.
Fatherhood is the 8/1 shot, will he father another child before June 2009?
With all his rants about health and safety, there’s 12/1 on Mario becoming the new safety officer for Hell’s Kitchen.
Craig did it (from BB 1) but do you think that Mario has what it takes to become a DIY presenter? Well there’s 18/1 if you think he could have his own DIY show.
One bitten, twice shy is the saying, but if you fancy a punt, there’s 25/1 that Mario will start a relationship with Stephanie.
In the outside category (if you didn’t think that the Stephanie re-romance was a goer) is that Mario could win Nabba Mr Universe 2008 (for 80/1); he could voice over as Mario in Nintendo’s next Mario game (100/1); or for 100/1 Mario could star in ‘Friends’ the movie as Joey’s twin.
Some of these ideas could be quite likely, others, not so, but if Mario does get evicted tonight, there’s lots of scope for furthering his career when he’s out.
Mario is currently 2/5 favourite to be evicted from the house tonight. To find the latest odds visit our Eviction Special page.
Big Brother: 1st Eviction Betting
June 13, 2008
Tonight sees the first eviction from the Big Brother house. You will remember that four housemates who had a secret mission, failed that mission and were put up for the public vote. Mario and Stephanie failed to pull the wool over the other housemates eyes by hiding the fact that Mario and Lisa were in fact a real couple. Luke was also in on the secret, and had to help reinforce the secret. You can read more about this task and how it failed on our post - Big Brother: Who is up for the Public Vote?
Back at the beginning of the week, Stephanie was favourite to be sent out of the Big Brother house on tonight’s live eviction special. However as the week as proceeded, Mario has failed to endear himself as a housemate, and now takes the top spot. I don’t think his constant references to health and safety, and his big daddy type approach to the other housemates have done him many favours. The best odds available for Mario to go tonight are currently 2/5 from Boylesports.
With Mario taking up the favourite position, that has pushed Stephanie into second place. Stephanie didn’t really convince anyone in the marraige task, in fact it seemed as though she was working for the other housemates, it was that blatant she was not ‘into’ Mario. Her constant whinging is really annoying, and it was hard to see why she is a close second to Mario. Currently you can get odds of 7/4 for Stephanie being the evictee tonight.
Lisa, Mario’s real girlfriend is in third place, the same as at the beginning of the week, however then she was 5/1, now however her odds have lengthened to 25/1 (again at Boylesports). As Mario and Stephanie looked more likely to go, Lisa and Luke are less likely and so their odds lengthened considerably.
Whilst mentioning Luke, his odds were 22/1 on Monday, however now you can get the best odds of 66/1 if you think he will go. I however do not expect this is likely, he has remained in the background through the task, and in this week too, so hasn’t done anything to put him out of favour with the voting public..
This week would have been a particularly good week to have thrown in another twist, if only to get that Alexandra out of the house. She has got to be the most obnoxious character they have ever had in the house. The audience at the live show saw it, as she was teh first ever housemate to get a boo on the way into the house. The hot or not votes for Alexandra on the Big Brother site have 95% of voters rating her as ‘Not’, and the odds of her winning Big Brother are 150/1 with Paddy Power.
Is she your favourite housemate? let us know why…
Who will go on tonight’s show? Let us know your thoughts by leaving us a comment.
Big Brother: Who is up for the Public Vote?
June 9, 2008
Well, Day 5 in the Big Brother House. Didn’t those few days go fast. Let’s take a look at the run up to the first choice of evictees:
Big Brother started the series well, with a secret mission designed to fail, by splitting up real life couple Mario and Lisa, and switching to Mario and Stephanie. The secret mission was that the housemates were not to find out who the real couple were.
In a twist to the secret mission, Big Brother had laid on a Wedding for Stephanie and Mario, much to Stephanie’s disgust, she played along with it, and the ceremony was yesterday. Straight after the ceremony, Big Brother announced that there was a secret couple in the house, and that the housemates had 1 minute to decide who they were.
After much shouting, Micheal stood up an declared that it was Mario and Lisa, which of course was correct. This meant the housemates had FAILED the task and the conspirators Mario, Lisa, Stephanie and Luke now face the public vote.
The bookies and I agree with each other on who should go on Friday’s show. We both have Stephanie at the top of the list for the boot. She has undermined the others efforts to keep the task on course, whilst complaining and whining about it in the Diary Room and to the fellow conspirators - so she should go. The bookies have odds of 8/13 (available from Stan James) that she will get the boot on Friday.
How about the others? Well Mario was an absolute star in this task, great acting and if he got his way, I think they’d have managed the task no problem, however I guess he (who is 42) was spurned on by the fact he was about to marry a beautiful 19 year old (instead of Lisa). Mario’s odds for eviction on Friday os 7/2 from Stan James.
Lisa, Mario’s real partner, stands at 5/1 with Paddy Power. I didn’t really see what value she added to the task, apart from bigging up Mario’s good head, that he has. There wasn;t any fireworks from her to Big Brother since they took away her love of her life and gave him to a younger girl, but hey, it;s a game!
Luke is least likely to go on Friday as he really has melted into insignificance. I first thought that he’d be first out as he was really annoying on the first night, but since being given a role in the task, really has disappeared from sight. If he was being judged on how much he helped during the task, he’d have been second to Stephanie, but on popularity, he stands least chance of eviction with outside odds of 22/1 from Padddy Power.
The odds quoted were correct at the time of writing, please check the Next Eviction page for the correct odds.
Big Brother: Launch Night Bets
June 5, 2008
Well, Big Brother is finally here. Live from the house at 9pm on Channel 4 tonight, we’ll finally get introduced to this year’s housemates.
As usual, Big Brother is expected to be a highlight for bookies as millions of us place a bet on anything from who’s going to win, to who has the first kiss. We have taken a look at lots of these betting opportunities in these previous posts:
With most of the betting opportunities you will need to wait a while to yield any return on your bet, most in fact may onlyfinish after the final of Big Brother. So I thought as it’s launch night, that I’d look at those things you could place a bet on which are specific to tonight’s Big Brother.
By the end of the launch night of Big Brother, you will know whether you have some returns from the bets you placed.
I guess the best place to start is with Davina, as she will be the first thing we see on Big Brother show. This year there isn’t a bet on the colour of her dress, but for you Davina fans, there is a bet available from Paddy Power on what will be the first thing she will say. The best odds are as follows:
I love it - 3/1
Now then - 4/1
The wait is over - 6/1
Ladies and Gentlemen - 8/1
We’re back - 8/1
Are you ready? - 10/1
I’m so excited - 10-1
The time as come - 10/1
Let’s get started - 14/1
You decide - 16/1
Bigger and Better - 20/1
Where to begin? - 20/1
Controversy - 25/1
Cancel your holidays - 33/1
Game plan - 33/1
Hold on to your hats - 40/1
I’m not pregnant - 50/1
If you think you know which of these statements she will say first in tonights show, then you can place a bet. First check the latest Big Brother Odds from the table below; then click on the statement, and you’ll be taken to the betting slip. Easy!
You can also place a bet on the gender of the 1st housemate to enter the house. Paddy Power are offering 8/11 on them being female, evens on being male there’s also 50/1 on the first entrant being an animal!
One of the most important things for the production company at Big Brother is the ratings, how many viewers they have watching the show. Paddy Power are offering odds on this too. Take a look at the table at the bottom of the page to see the best odds for this special Big Brother bet.
If you haven’t yet seen the house, then there are lots of official photos released, go take a look and let us know what you think.
