Republican Donald Trump is facing a tough challenge from Democratic challenger Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election. There are 538 Electoral College votes allotted to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It takes 270 votes to win.

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One of the most divisive and bitter presidential elections in American history saw tight races in many key battleground states with Biden winning 224 electoral college votes and Trump closely behind with 213. The winner of the 2020 presidential election should have at least 270 electoral college votes out of the 538-member electoral college.

In an interesting development, Democratic candidate Joe Biden was back as favourite to win the U.S. presidential election in online betting markets, a reversal of fortune for President Donald Trump who was favourite overnight, according to data from three aggregators.

The shift came after Biden overtook Trump in the battleground state of Wisconsin - an estimated 89% of the vote has been counted so far. Trump has 49% and Biden has 49.3% of vote, according to Edison Research.

British-based Smarkets exchange is giving Biden a 58% chance, while New Zealand-based predictions market PredictIt had Biden at 63%. Trump`s chances on Smarkets were sitting at 41% - a massive drop from 80% overnight.

Odds for a Biden win at one point had fallen to less than a third overnight on Tuesday, data from aggregators showed.

The flip in betting markets overnight was mainly "driven by Trump seemingly holding the key swing state of Florida as a result of a very strong showing for him in the Miami-Dade county with a large Cuban population," said Patrick Flynn, political analyst at Smarkets, as per a Reuters report.

Trump earlier falsely claimed victory over Biden with millions of votes still uncounted in a White House race that will not be decided until a handful of states complete vote-counting over the next hours or days.

Bettors on British betting exchange Betfair meanwhile were also giving Biden about 60% chance to win, denting the prospect of a second term for Trump in the White House.

The 2020 election is shaping up to be the biggest betting event of all time, betting companies say, with one player on Monday placing a record-breaking one million-pound bet on a victory for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Fox News, considered to be the favourite news network of the president, gave him only 213 electoral college votes while crediting 238 votes to Biden. It also gave 50 per cent of the popular vote to the Democratic challenger and 48.4 per cent to Trump.