48% of bets in the "next Prime Minister" market backed Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday. Christopher Furlong / Getty Images LONDON — There has been a surge in bets on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to become the new Prime Minister, according to leading odds comparison website Oddschecker.

MPs voted by 522 to 13 in favour of holding a general election with polls suggesting Conservative leader Theresa May is on course for a landslide victory on June 8.

According to Oddschecker, the majority of bets favoured Theresa May to stay on as Prime Minister when betting markets opened on Tuesday.

However, by Wednesday, punters began to ignore the polls as 48% of "next Prime Minister" bets placed on the day favoured Corbyn.

Additionally, 44% of bets placed in the "to win most seats" market on the day favoured the Labour party, ahead of the Conservatives on39%.

The best odds on Theresa May remaining Prime Minister after the general election range are at a short 1/10 with Betfred, meaning for every £10 you bet you only get £1 back, plus your initial stake. Bettors may have been attracted to the longer shot Jeremy Corbyn, available at 8/1.

A Betfred spokesman told Business Insider that the flurry of betting activity in Labour markets may be down to the party's "substantial grassroots membership" causing "a degree of optimism."

The spokesman added: "Political punting is proving increasingly popular after we were bashed over Brexit, Donald Trump, and indeed rank outsider Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

"Early indications are that the size of the overall Conservative majority will be popular. The biggest bet so far has been £6,000 from a London customer on the Lib-Dems picking up between ten and 20% of the total vote at 4/6.

"We have taken well over six figures in the first 48 hours of the election announcement which has surprised us considering the opinion polls and political experts are unanimous that it is just a case of how big the Tory majority will be on June 8."

However, all polls taken just before the snap election announcement and immediately afterwards predict a landslide victory for the Conservative party.

Aggregate polling data published by the Times on Wednesday put Conservative support on 43%, Labour on 24%, the Liberal Democrats on 11% and UKIP on 10%. That would give the Conservatives 382 seats, Labour 179, the Lib Dems 10, the SNP 56, and others 23.

IG Group, which is an online trading platform, created a general election seats market which allows traders buy and sell the total amount of seats each party could win.

Based on current prices, this is how many seats each party is set to win:

Conservatives – 370 seats (a gain of 40 seats)

Labour – 177 seats (a loss of 52 seats)

Liberal Democrats – 34 seats (a gain of 25 seats)

Scottish National Party – 50 seats (a loss of 4 seats)

UKIP – 1 seat (gain of 1 seat)

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