Nevertheless, the unexpectedness of Sunak\u2019s decision allowed Williams to get 5-1 on a \u00a3100 (US$128) bet. Williams, who will be standing in the election as an MP for Montgomeryshire, Wales, has refused to say whether he was party to insider information when he made the bet. Nor has he denied it.<\/p>\n
If he was, it could be a criminal offense, and one that could involve a prison sentence.<\/p>\n
\n
Williams told the BBC<\/em> last week he had made a \u201chuge error of judgment,\u201d but declined to expand, citing an ongoing independent investigation by the UKGC. Meanwhile, the UKGC wants to know if anyone else linked to Sunak or his chief aide has made a similar error of judgment at UK sportsbooks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhile political betting is illegal in the US, it\u2019s OK in the UK, although it remains a relatively small market.<\/p>\n
That also makes it one that\u2019s easy to monitor, and betting companies are hyper-vigilant about any prop bet where the result might be known to a small group of people in advance. For the same reason, most US states where sports betting is legal won\u2019t allow betting on the Oscars, for example.<\/p>\n
Politically Exposed<\/strong><\/h2>\nUnder anti-money laundering regulations, sportsbooks must also pay close attention when they identify politicians using their services. \u201cPolitically exposed persons\u201d carry a greater risk of involvement in bribery or corruption, and therefore money laundering.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s terrible optics for the Conservatives\u2019 tanking election campaign, which has adopted the tagline \u201cprofessionalism, integrity and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds described the allegation that Williams was using privileged information as \u201cextremely serious.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIf this is true, then he has no place on the Conservative benches, if he is to win his seat. Even the suggestion of this \u2013 which could amount to cheating, a criminal offense under the Gambling Act \u2013 is deeply corrosive to trust in politics,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has written to domestic betting operators asking them to examine all substantial bets made on the likelihood of a national election occurring in July. That\u2019s after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s closest aide, Craig Williams, was found to have placed a bet on that eventuality just three days before Sunak announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":322936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,61,84511],"tags":[91270,91348,91349,91350],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
UKGC Probing More Election Bets After Sunak Aide Snafu<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n