Scottish independence: Punters betting on ‘No’

POLITICAL punters are continuing to back the ‘No’ vote to emerge triumphant at the Scottish Referendum, despite an opinion poll boost for the ‘Yes’ vote – and William Hill have lengthened their ‘Yes’ odds from 7/4 to 2/1, and shortened long-term favourite ‘No’ from 2/5 to 4/11.

William Hill have lengthened the odds on the 'Yes' vote. Picture: Ian Georgeson

Spokesman Graham Sharpe said: “There was great excitement when one opinion poll put ‘Yes’ marginally ahead, but that has failed to translate into a surge of financial backing for that outcome and with the biggest bets of the campaign all placed on the ‘No’ outcome – including the £800,000 gambled by one customer in a Surrey betting shop and a £200,000 stake in a Glasgow betting shop – we have had to lengthen ‘Yes’ in an effort to attract more bets.”

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One William Hill customer is so convinced that the ‘No’ option will triumph that he has bet on that happening 700 times.

Not only that, he is a man who lives in Lisbon in Portugal, who has never even been to Scotland.

He placed his first online bet on April 28, since then he has made 699 more, laying out a total of 3283.16 euros, in the expectation of receiving back 3757.38 euros.

“The Portuguese punter is in his thirties and has absolutely no links to Scotland, but he says he is confident he is on to a winning system,” said Sharpe.

“The Scottish Referendum has become the biggest political betting event of all time. It is set to produce a £2million-plus betting turnover which will exceed the last General and US Presidential Elections added together.”