UK opinion polls on Brexit at odds with betting odds

London

CONFUSION about betting odds regarding the outcome of the June 23 referendum bedevils much media reporting. From Today, the BBC's flagship radio news programme, to the Financial Times, commentators and reporters seem not to know the difference between "odds on" and "odds against".

My favourite howler during the past week or so concerns a senior BBC presenter who blandly stated that at one time the odds on Leicester City - the Midlands-based football team viewed at the start of the 2015-16 season as likely contenders for relegation - winning the premiership were 5,000 to one.