General election bet of the day

General election leaders' debate: Political bet of the day

Which of the debates' rules will be broken first? And who'll break into a sweat first? Place your bets…

In just 12 days' time there will be the first live TV debate between the main party leaders and the bookmakers are devising tempting bets in the hope of parting us from our money.

Leaving aside the obviously frivolous, such as "who will perspire first" two markets from PaddyPower stand out: which of the debates' rules will be broken first and which of the three will achieve the highest TV audience?

The restriction on clapping seems like a good bet at 11/8 and more likely than booing at 7/4, heckling at 4/1 and cheering at 9/2. As to the TV audience, all the evidence from the United States is that the first to be screened will come top. That is on ITV which is at 5/4 and is a good bet. The final debate on the BBC is the 4/6 favourite while the one on Sky is at 8/1.

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