Bulgarian Scrapbook: Bookmakers Open Doors To Bulgarian Election Betting

Friday, 3 July 2009

Bookmakers Open Doors To Bulgarian Election Betting

Bookmakers are better than any exit polls of forecast; they have to be accurate as it is their business. If they get it wrong they can lose lots of money. This is why I have included this post here as it gives a better reflection on what is likely to happen in the National Elections on Sunday 5th July. There are slight fluctuations in other countries opinions, but we all know who the winner will be and the likely hood of a coalition now very strong. We should have an ex-bodyguard Boyko Borisov (I won’t mention Mafia) as the GERB party leader taking over Bulgaria on Monday. I wander what will happen to the masses of rubbish left in Sofia streets now he has a new job?

For the first time in history, foreign bookmakers have shown increased interest towards Bulgaria's July 5 general elections.

The Austrian "bet-at-home.com" lets people bet on four leading Bulgarian political parties and win if they guess the percentage of the vote those parties will receive on July 5.

The self-proclaimed center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party is the "bet-at-home" favorite with a proposal for below and above 27,5% of the vote.

The percentage for the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) is below and above 20,5 %.

The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) is with below and above 15,5% due to "bet-at-home" own research and despite the lower percentage predicted by pollsters in Bulgaria.

The percentage for the far-right nationalist Ataka is 10,5%.

The Scandinavian Betsafe.com has also included Bulgaria's July 5 general elections in its betting lists.

The leader is again GERB with a handicap of minus 8,5% in the face-off with BSP ( the handicap means 8,5% will be subtracted from GERB's actual result - i.e. if GERB wins 27% of the vote and BSP 19%, the red party will have the winning bet after the 8,5% subtraction from GERB's result).

The rate in the direct face-off is 1,8 for GERB and 1,9 for the Socialists.

The Scandinavian bookmaker gives equal chances to two coalitions: GERB plus the opposition, rightist "Blue Coalition" between the two biggest right-wing parties, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) and the United Democratic Forces (UDF), and BSP plus DPS.