(Adds Ladbrokes odds)
March 2 (Reuters) - Ted Cruz's Super Tuesday victories inhis home state of Texas and neighboring Oklahoma strengthenedhis odds for the Republican presidential nomination on onlinebetting sites but he still trails far behind Donald Trump.
On PredictIt.com, operated by Victoria University inWellington, New Zealand, the predicted chances of the Texassenator winning the nomination for the Nov. 8 election rose to10 percent as results from Super Tuesday voting continued to betallied.
Cruz has gained 4 percentage points in the past two days andhis predicted chances stood at the highest level on the sitesince he tumbled to a record low after a weak showing in theSouth Carolina primary on Feb 20.
But Trump, who rolled to wins in at least seven states onSuper Tuesday, was outdistancing both Cruz and his other toprival, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. PredictIt hadTrump's odds of winning the nomination at 76 percent early onWednesday, down 4 points from Monday's record high of 80percent.
Rubio, who scored his first win in a nominating contest onTuesday with the Minnesota Republican caucuses, dropped 1 pointto 10 percent, a record low for him.
Betting volumes on both Trump and Cruz hit records for thecandidates on Tuesday and Rubio's volume was his second highestever.
Other online betting venues also gave Trump, a New Yorkbillionaire businessman, the strongest odds of winning thenomination. Ireland's PaddyPower put Trump as a 1-to-7 favorite,with Rubio following at 5-1 and Cruz at 12-1.
Ladbrokes PLC said on Wednesday morning that Trump'sodds of securing the nomination were 1-5. Rubio came in adistant second at 9-2, followed by Cruz at 25-1.
Message boards associated with PredictIt featured growingdiscussion of a possible brokered convention, which can occurwhen no candidate has won a clear majority of delegates beforethe start of the party's nominating convention.
There has not been a brokered U.S. major-party conventionsince 1952 when the Democrats nominated Illinois Governor AdlaiStevenson on the third ballot.
"I am betting against Trump getting the nomination at theseodds but only because I think there is a 30 percent chance theGOP elite somehow successfully blocks him at the convention,"said a post from a forum member with the username matthewcooley. (Reporting by Dan Burns in Washington and Anjali Athavaley inNew York; Editing by Peter Cooney and Bill Trott)
