THE Liberal Party is favourite to oust Labor in two out of Tasmania's five federal seats at the next election, according to online betting agency Sportsbet.
The bookmaker yesterday opened betting on all 150 federal electorates in the lead-up to the election later this year.
In Bass, Sportsbet has Liberal candidate Andrew Nikolic on $1.60 compared with Labor incumbent Geoff Lyons on $2.30.
Sportsbet's Ben Hawes said the odds offered were impacted by polling such as the ReachTEL survey of Bass voters conducted for The Examiner last week.
The poll showed the Liberal Party well ahead, claiming 60.3 per cent of the vote to Labor's 39.7 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
The Coalition was also attracting shorter odds in Braddon.
Labor incumbents Julie Collins and Dick Adams are tipped to hang on to Franklin and Lyons respectively, while in Denison independent Andrew Wilkie is favourite ahead of Labor with the Coalition a rank outsider at $27.
Across the nation, the Coalition is tipped to pick up 18 seats at the next election, which would see it win 91 seats compared with Labor's 54.
Mr Hawes said political betting was growing in popularity and they expected several millions of dollars in bets to be placed before the election.
"With the amount of media coverage people get right into it and the accuracy of the polling means people can use it to make more informed decisions than just having a punt," Mr Hawes said.
Sportsbet is running more than 50 politically based markets. As well as trying to pick the winner, punters can also have a crack at how many Twitter followers the party's leaders will have amassed by polling day or the colour of Tony Abbott's tie at his next big event.