So I made an account on PredictIt.com to legally bet on these primaries.
I would be glad to illegally bet it, but Bovada doesn't seem to be carrying these.
PredictIt lets you deposit for free (they'll also give you a $25 deposit match bonus if you e-mail and ask them), but a 5% withdrawal fee.
Here are the prices on Super Tuesday on each favorite:
Repub
Texas: Cruz -669
Virginia: Trump -1566
Georgia: Trump -1900
Minn: Trump -285
Oklahoma: Trump -567
Mass: Trump -3233
Alabama: Trump -2400
Arkansas: Trump -567
Tennessee: Trump -1900
Alaska: Trump -733
Vermomt: Trump -1150
Dem
Vermont: Sanders -9900
Tennessee: Clinton -9900
Alabama: Clinton -9900
Georgia: Clinton -9900
Texas: Clinton -9900
Virginia: Clinton -9900
Arkansas: Clinton -9900
Minnesota: Clinton -300
Oklahoma: Clinton -435
Mass: Clinton -454
Colorado: Clinton -233
I have bolded all of the races where I think there is value (and where it's worth betting -- meaning no -9900 crap). Note that the bolded race does NOT mean I advocate betting the favorite -- just that the race itself has value (see below for comments).
The big frontrunners have remained pretty true to the polls so far. There has only been one real upset, and that was Cruz beating Trump in Iowa. But in that case, Trump was only ahead 5 points going into election day.
Super Tuesday is just 2 days away, so I don't see much change occurring at this point.
Republican analysis:
There is very scant polling for the GOP Minnesota race. However, the last poll I've seen there (albeit one from late January) shows that it's a statistical tie between Trump, Rubio, and Cruz! Amazingly,
Cruz is +2400 and Rubio is +213. Definitely will be loading up on Cruz and Rubio in this one -- basically going with "Not Trump" and hoping Cruz pulls off a miracle.
In Oklahoma, Trump is leading by 5-8 points in recent polls, but you can get both Cruz and Rubio for +1150. I kind of like Cruz for value here, because Oklahoma is next to Texas, and there is a lot of crossover culture between the states. However, I will probably also throw some on Rubio, since he's overall the stronger candidate at the moment. I do want to point out that I'm expecting Trump to win this, so I'm not going to go too hard, but I it's hard to pass up +1150 for the other two.
Arkansas is a good one. There is scant polling there, but Cruz is shown AHEAD in the latest poll there (Feb 4):
http://heavy.com/news/2016/02/latest...esday-primary/ In this poll, Cruz has 27, Trump and Rubio are tied at 23. Despite this,
Cruz is +488 and Rubio is +1900. Going to load up hard on both of them. I think Cruz will win this one OUTRIGHT.
Alaska is yet another state with scant polling. Last poll was on January 12, and Trump was leading 28-24 over Cruz. Rubio was way behind (9%) and seems to have little shot there.
Cruz is +900, and Rubio is +3233. Believe it or not, Rubio may still be of poor value at +3233, but I may throw a little on him anyway, since there have been no polls in 1 1/2 months. Cruz at +900 is a very strong buy. However, my gut feeling is that Trump wins this state.
While I think Trump will easily win the rest where he is a big favorite, there is either too little return to bother, or in the case of Vermont (-1150), not enough poll data to be 100% confident on backing him. However, the -1150 bet on Trump in Vermont probably has decent value, because I just don't see any upsets there.
On the Democratic side:
Minnesota again has poor polling data, but there appears to be huge value on Hillary here at -300. The last poll (January 20) put her a staggering 34 points ahead! I will load up big time on her.
Oklahoma is too tough to handicap. The polls are all over the place, but it seems like Hillary will likely win. However, it's not likely enough to lay the -435 price on her, nor do I want to back Sanders, who has never shown up ahead in a poll there. I'll skip this one.
Massachusetts is a great value play on Sanders.
You can get +270 on him, yet he is in a statistical tie with Hillary right now, and in fact was ahead by 7 in a poll on 2/16. I also think he will get a boost by Mass' proximity to Vermont, where Bernie is from (and where he may beat Hillary by over 75 points!)
There is scant polling in Colorado, but according to
this article, Sanders was leading by 6 in a poll about two weeks ago. I can't throw all of my support on Sanders based upon one poll, and it's important to know that Sanders was getting CRUSHED back in November in the only other poll done. But November and February are quite different (especially for Sanders, who gained steam in 2016). Sanders is +170 at the moment. I will lay some on him, but won't go too hard.