.... has he? If so he sure is a twat and symtomatic of the malaise of the left.
The NSW Coalition has surged into short-priced favouritism to win Saturday's state election, a fortnight after being nearly 2-to-1 outsiders, following a swing against Labor leader Michael Daley.
Data acquired from betting agency Sportsbet shows how the two have fluctuated in popularity in the past six months, but by far the biggest gulf at any point in the election race has come in the past few days.
On top with the punters: Gladys Berejiklian.Credit:Janie Barrett
Just days after an explosive interview with radio host Alan Jones, in which Mr Daley told the shock jock that he and the rest of the SCG Trust board would be sacked were Labor to win the election, the party's odds on winning were as low as $1.78.
However, a series of recent events, including accusations of anti-Asian sentiment and a less-than-stellar performance on a televised debate led Labor to blow all the way out to $3.00 by Friday, at longer odds than the final days of Luke Foley's reign late last year.
Labor's price drifted all the way out to $2.85 on November 9, the day before Foley was replaced. It dropped steadily from there.
But NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is now $1.50 to keep her job, the shortest odds she has been to win since Mr Daley became leader of the opposition.
"In the last two weeks, we have seen massive support for the Coalition, which has seen its price shorten, and after the debate last night, [there's been] huge amounts of cash for the Coalition," a Sportsbet spokesman said.
While a minority government looked a near certainty in recent weeks, Sportsbet said plenty of bookmakers were now backing one party to win at least 47 seats in the 93-seat Legislative Assembly.
"We’re also seeing plenty of cash on a majority government today, whereas all the action for the last week has been on a hung Parliament," the spokesman said.
Three seats remain without a clear betting favourite just a day before the election.
Ballina is a three-horse race in which both the Coalition's Ben Franklin ($2.10) and Labor's Asren Pugh ($2.50) are favoured to dethrone the Greens MP, Tamara Smith ($4).
Andrew Schier of the Nationals ($2) is slightly favoured to hold off the challenge from Roy Butler of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers ($2.25) in Barwon, while Sports Minister Stuart Ayres ($1.75) has his seat of Penrith sitting on a knife-edge against Labor's Karen McKeown ($1.95).
