Gamblers are also reportedly betting heavily in Beaufort and odds are up for Lajim to win.
KOTA KINABALU: Gamblers and political punters are having a field day in Sabah. They are taking bets for hot seats or hot fights.
Insiders information said topping the list for a flutter are those involving the fights of heavyweights like Yong Teck Lee, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Bernard Dompok and the straight fight in Sandakan involving LDP’s VK Liew.
The odds are various and varied, they said. The amount of betting is from as small as10 sen, for kampung boys, to millions of ringgits for the big time gamblers.
The avid punters are betting heavily for an “obvious” result and still taking other bets, to offset any surprises.
Favourite betting is on “whether Yong could win or not in Likas” his old state seats when he was still a chief minister in the mid ’90s.
This time, the president of now opposition SAPP, is involved in a four-cornered fight that could determine his political future.
Yong faces a formidable DAP, the BN coalition and a late comer STAR in Likas.
Another favourite bet is on the Sandakan parliamentary seat where a the only straight fight is being slugged out between Liew of the BN and Wong Tien Fatt of DAP.
It is not known if syndicates could use the betting to influence the results for the seats but the heavy betting could have an impact. Some voters are said to be prepared to vote and campaign for parties based on their bets.
The fight between the Kitingan brothers in Keningau is a big draw. In the kampungs, boys are openly betting, small and medium, on which of the two, Pairin or Jeffrey, would come out as victor on Sunday.
There are also bets being placed on whether the third contender for Keningau, Stephen Sandor of PKR, would lose or not his election fee of RM15,000.
Under Malaysian law, a contender for election would lose his deposit if he or she failed to get less than one eight of the votes cast.
Heavy bets on Lajim
Gamblers are also taking bets on the number of majority votes, either Pairin or Jeffrey would win Keningau. Some are betting on a below 1,000 votes bet, while others on a over 3,000 bet.
They are varied and carried in such a way that it has become a lucrative activity for some in the district.
Gamblers are also reportedly betting heavily down south in Beaufort. They are placing various bets on Lajim Ukin for the Beaufort parliamentary seat and by what majority.
Elsewhere, small office betting pools are taking place and regarded as ‘standard’ especially among the men who have been riveted by various reports on the campaign.
Interestingly, sales of local newspapers have not spiked with many copies of the local and national papers seen still on the news stands late in the day.
One newspaper editor said the output from their printing presses had actually been cut and this may have given the impression that their sales were good when it was difficult to get a copy of their newspaper.
Vendors said that their sales have soared the day after nomination day on April 20, but eased a few days into the campaign.
On person in the newspaper production industry claimed: “Our retailers are making a brisk business during this period. No returns had been reported anywhere.”
A newspapers vendor in Kota Belud said she used to sell about 200 copies of New Sabah Times, one of the newspapers that is at the bottom of the heap in the industry, but sale soared to 400 after nomination.
“I can sell even more Daily Express and Metro during this time. It is good,” she said with a grin.
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