BREXIT: Lots of people are betting on Britain to remain in the EU after Barack Obama's intervention
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The implied probability of a vote to remain in the June 23 referendum rose several percentage points to about 75 percent, according to live odds from bookmaker Betfair.
Ladbrokes' betting barometer, which is based on live odds, indicated on Monday a 73 percent chance of Britain voting to remain.
The US President visited London last week in an attempt to urge the British public to remain in the union. He said in a BBC interview that it could take Britain up to ten years to strike a new trade deal with the US if it were to leave the EU, and that the "special relationship" between the two nations wouldn't give Britain preferential treatment in any trade negotiations.
Some members of the Leave campaign were angered by Obama's intervention, like Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg who said in a Mirror opinion piece that the President's involvement was "arrogant" and "unwelcome," and suggested he would only help the Leave campaign's cause because his intervention would be viewed as condescending by the British public.
The President used the BBC interview to defend his right to have a say on the issue of Britain's EU membership. He said:
I don't anticipate that anything I've said will change the position of those who are leading the campaigns in one direction or the other, but for ordinary voters I thought it would be relevant to hear what the president of the United States, who loves the British people and cares deeply about this relationship, has to say.
Opinion polls published by ComRes, OBR, and ICM earlier this month painted an unclear picture of how the vote will turn out on June 23. The Remain campaign has enjoyed leads in most surveys but the amount of undecided voters and discrepancy between online and over-the-phone polling has meant forecasts have been approached with caution.
Ladbrokes' betting odds suggests Obama's visit to Britain gave the Remain campaign a welcome boost and dealt a major blow to Brexitiers who, as things stand, don't enjoy the support of political figures as high-profile as the US President.