Scottish Referendum Odds Latest – ‘Yes’ Shortens, ‘No’ Lengthens

We’re into the home straight with the Scottish Independence Referendum build up now, with the date set at September 18, 2014, that leaves only about 3 weeks to go until the momentous day.

Naturally things are starting to hot up even more, then, and there will be a few more twists and turns to report until the issue is put to bed, with operators like 32Red paying special attention to developments.

Critics of the independence vote, under the ‘Better Together’ campaign banner (which sounds a bit more conducive than an Ian Paisley-esque ‘No’ even if that is what it really means) have rather cynically stated that it would be great for Scotland for about 2 weeks and then the honeymoon period would rapidly wear off.

For their part the ‘Yes’ supporters of full independence under the terms of the referendum (which is a straight choice, there is no sitting on the fence here!) have been busy pointing out that the prospects in staying are so unappealing that if one were to imagine that the referendum were in reverse, in other words if the populace of an independent Scotland were asked to vote on whether to unite with England and be ruled from Westminster, it would be a complete no-brainer.

The bookies have not been sitting idly by either, and the odds have shifted likely on both possible outcomes (as is likely in a 2-horse race).

Most betting shops in the UK have shortened their odds on a ‘Yes’ vote to around 4:1 (with Betway) or 5:1 (32Red) at the time of writing. Readers may recall in our previous article, odds getting closer to 6:1 were the norm only a couple of weeks ago.

Conversely and correspondingly, the bookies have lengthened to 1:6 (Paddy Power) or 1:7 (Unibet– but then what would they know about anything?).

But what prompted the change?

Undoubtedly the recent performance of ‘Yes’ campaign leader and would-be Prime Minister of Scotland-in-waiting Alex Salmond in the second televised debate with his ‘No’ vote counterpart Alastair Darling has played a big part in the shift in outlook.

Whereas in the first TV debate, Darling had got the better of Salmond, on the issue of Scotland being able to retain the Pound as its currency, the tables were turned on the logical follow up issue – what happens to the UK’s not-insubstantial debt in the event of a split?

Salmond remained adamant that if an independent Scotland was not permitted to retain the Pound, then ‘the debt is yours’ (ie. Westminster’s alone).

He also reportedly did well on issues such as the fate of the health service, and Westminster’s record on combatting poverty in Scotland and the UK as a whole.

Debates and even betting shops (despite the shifting prices, the bookies are reacting to events rather than fomenting them) don’t decide the final outcome, of course – that’s up to the people, and we’ll find out soon enough. But rest assured Casino Daily News is watching this issue from a gaming (and a general) perspective, very, very closely indeed.