Joe Biden Favorite to Win Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania With Bookmakers

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Joe Biden is the bookmakers' favorite to win the crucial battleground states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Oddschecker, which compares odds from dozens of bookmakers, said Biden had odds of 4-11 in Arizona, (implying a 73.31 percent chance of winning, according to the betting site). Trump was priced at 2-1, or 33.33 percent.

In Georgia, Oddschecker gave Biden odds of 8-13 (61.92 percent) and Trump odds of 6-4 (40 percent). A spokesperson said this was "perhaps the most surprising of all the markets given the fact that Trump is ahead and there are very few votes left to count."

In Pennsylvania and Nevada, Biden was out in front with odds of 1-4 (80 percent) and 1-5 (83.33 percent) respectively. The president was priced at 3-1 (25 percent) and 9-2 (18.18 percent) in those states.

Trump stands a much better chance of holding onto North Carolina, according to Oddschecker's aggregation, with odds of 1-5 (83.33 percent) compared to Biden's 4-1 (20 percent).

"Biden is very much on the final stretch by the looks of things, but just needs to be wary of emulating the cyclist raising his hands at the finish line only for his rival to pass him at the last pedalling furiously," said the Oddschecker spokesperson.

In terms of actual ballots cast, at the time of writing on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, Trump was ahead by fewer than 20,000 votes in Georgia, a tally by Reuters, which uses NEP/Edison Research data, showed. Just 4 percent of ballots remain uncounted. A Trump loss in the state would rule out his chances of outright victory, although in that scenario he could still secure a tie and win another term.

In Pennsylvania, where Reuters reported Trump also enjoying a lead on Thursday morning, this time of around 135,000 votes, outstanding mail-in ballots were expected to boost Biden's chances of winning the critical state. Here, 89 percent of expected votes had been counted.

Historically Republican Arizona was called early for Biden by a number of media organizations, including the Associated Press and Fox News.

However an error in the Grand Canyon State's vote count has since given Republicans hope they might still cling on. At the time of writing, the former vice president was ahead by just shy of 70,000 votes, with 86 percent of ballots counted.

Nevada also had Biden in front by just under 8,000 votes on Thursday morning, with 86 percent of votes counted, and North Carolina was leaning towards Trump by 76,000 votes with 5 percent of ballots waiting to be sorted, Reuters data showed.

biden supporter vote
People gather at Fifth Avenue during a "Count Every Vote" rally in New York on November 4, 2020. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden on November 4 neared the magic number of 270 electoral votes needed... TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Fellow bookmaker Betfair also said Biden was favorite to take Arizona (3-10, implying a 79 percent chance, according to the betting company), Georgia (1-2, 66 percent), Nevada (1-4, 80 percent) and Pennsylvania (1-5, 83 percent) after a record $637m (£487m at Thursday's exchange rate) was wagered on the election.

Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom said: "Joe Biden is an odds-on favorite on Betfair Exchange in the key states of Arizona, Georgia and Nevada suggesting he's comfortably on course to win the race, which is reflected in his odds of 1-6 (86 percent) to become president.

"Victories in these key states would mean the result in Pennsylvania becomes academic, but the betting suggests a win in his own backyard will come as the cherry on top of a victorious campaign."

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