Bettors are giving Pete Buttigieg the same 2020 primary odds as Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter)

published 15 April 2019

Pete Buttigieg is surging in the polls and the betting markets.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor officially announced his 2020 presidential bid on Sunday, and an Emerson poll the next morning showed the once-longshot had surged to third place in the overflowing Democratic field. The top two competitors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) followed by former Vice President Joe Biden, saw polling numbers that dwarfed Buttigieg's 9 percent. But when it came to betting predictions, PredictIt had Buttigieg on top by midday Monday.

On PredictIt, bettors confident that a certain candidate will win buy shares for the displayed "yes" price. Prices get higher as more people agree with a certain bet — in this case, when they started believing Buttigieg would win the primary. He was sitting at 17 cents a share just a week ago. The odds captured above shifted slightly by 5 p.m. EST, when Sanders regained his lead with 21-cent share. Biden and Buttigieg, though, were still tied at 20 cents.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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