Record £100m gamble on British vote too tight to call

London

IF Prime Minister David Cameron forms Britain's next government after the tightest election in a generation, it will not just be the Conservative Party leader who will be smiling. Scott Moorhead will be laughing all the way to the bank.

As part of a record £100 million (S$202 million) expected to be gambled on the British election, Mr Moorhead stands to win £250 on a £500 bet that the Conservatives will win most parliamentary seats in the May 7 election. "I think there is a bit of money to be made," Mr Moorhead, 36, who works in advertising in London, said. "Bookies call it right more often than not so you are backing some fairly odds-on chances." In the most unpredictable British election in recent times, opinion polls indicate neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party will win an overall majority as once fringe parties challenge the certainties of the post-1945 two-party system.