General Election 2024: Labour dominate betting as £1.35m wagered in 24 hours

• £1.35m wagered on Betfair Exchange's General Election markets

• Almost £500,000 bet on Labour to win most seats

• Nearly £200,000 on Labour majority in 24 hours

Labour dominated the general election betting on the Betfair Exchange with nearly £500K bet on Keir Starmer's party to win most seats and around £200K on a Labour majority in the past 24 hours.

Last night, Rishi Sunak confirmed rumours that a general election would be held this summer and set the date for 4 July.

On day one of the campaign, the Betfair Exchange markets indicate that Labour are on their way to power, making them 1.21/5 (an 83% chance) to win a majority.

Labour are 1.071/14 (94%) to win the most seats at a general election. However, they have not done so since 2005 and seasoned Labour watchers will take nothing for granted.

The Conservatives are 16.5 to win the most seats and the polling suggests they have a mountain to climb if they are to avoid catastrophic defeat on 4 July.

Tory seat losses of 200 or more is 1.75/7 on the Betfair Exchange.

Sunak stunned almost everyone, including many of his MPs, by calling a summer election, and it will be fascinating to see if he can make any inroads into Labour's poll lead over the next six weeks.

Most bets on Tories to win most seats

A total of around £9.5m has been bet in total since the markets opened and, while the odds show that Labour are firm favourites to win, Sunak could take some encouragement from the number of bets on his party.

Betfair Spokesperson, Sam Rosbottom explained: "As both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer head on the road for their election campaigns, punters have been putting their money where their mouths are, and a whopping £1.35m has been wagered on the Betfair Exchange UK general election markets in the last 24 hours.

"The majority of that has been in favour of the Labour party, with almost £500,000 wagered on them to win the most seats alone since yesterday morning.

"While Labour completely dominates the betting in terms of money, in the last 24 hours we actually took more bets on a no overall majority outcome, and the Conservatives to win most seats, suggesting that while Labour are at such short odds, punters are still speculative about the outcome."

General Election 2024: The key Betfair markets for 4 July