Sharp Rise in Bets for Le Pen Victory in Second-Round: Oddschecker
The second round of the French election might not be the ceremonial shoo-in for Emmanuel Macron after all.
This is at least the perspective of punters as reported by Oddschecker which has seen a jump in bets for a Le Pen win.
Oddschecker reports 68% of bets have been placed on Le Pen since her announcement she is to step aside from the National Front and fight the second round of the election as an independent candidate.
Oddschecker is a neutral venue for punters to find the best odds on all bets.
The report has some interesting implications for the Euro should there be an underlying shift in Le Pen's chance of winning the 2nd round. After all, the Euro has shot higher as markets effectively cancel out the risks associated with such an outcome.
Should there be a more broader shift in the betting market to a Le Pen win, and this is mirrored in the polls, then the Euro could suddenly come under unexpected pressure.
Strategic Masterstroke?
Just days after coming second in the first round of voting for the French Election, Marine Le Pen announced she’s temporarily stepping down as the leader of the National Front.
Le Pen accounted for 21.3% of first round votes, finishing runner-up to Emmanuel Macron who received 24% of all votes.
The far-right candidate explained she was moving away from the Front National party to concentrate on her presidential bid, with her move further distancing herself from former FN leader, her maverick father Jean-Marie.
Many people think her move is another bid to move her party away from the racist and anti-Semitic image it previously held, appealing to voters from both the left and right.
Macron finished the first round of voting almost one million votes ahead of Le Pen, which meant her odds of winning the French Election shot out from 5/2 to 6/1 overnight.
However, since she announced she was temporally distancing herself from the National Front her odds have been cut to as short as 4/1.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron is still favourite to be elected the new President and can be backed at 1/6 to win the second round of voting.
The next and decisive round of voting will be held on 7th May and it will be the first time in six decades that neither of France’s main left-wing of right-wing parties has had a candidate in the second round.
In the twenty-four hours following the announcement confirming the final two candidates, Le Pen accounted for 61.5% of bets placed through Oddschecker, however the majority of money (77%) was placed on Macron.
Since Marine Le Pen announced she was “no longer the president of the National Front. I am the candidate for the French Presidency”, she has accounted for 68% of all bets on the next French President market and 48% of stakes placed.
"Her strategic step away from the National Front appears to have been a sensible move in her bid for Presidency, as both the bookmakers and punters believe the possibility of her winning the second round of voting has improved," says Same Eaton at Oddschecker.
