{"id":328999,"date":"2024-08-28T06:42:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T11:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=328999"},"modified":"2024-08-28T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T14:52:10","slug":"uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Police Drop Probe Into Conservative Party Insider Betting"},"content":{"rendered":"

London\u2019s Metropolitan Police (the Met) has concluded its investigation into the betting scandal<\/a> that marred the lead-up to Britain\u2019s July 4 general election.<\/p>\n

\"UK
Leaving 10 Downing Street: The betting scandal that enveloped the Conservative Party prior to the July 4 election contributed to Rishi Sunak\u2019s landslide defeat. (Image: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

None of those investigated will be charged with misconduct in public office, the Met said. However, it\u2019s still possible that they could still be charged under the Gambling Act for cheating at gambling.<\/p>\n

The Gambling Commission is still examining the actions of numerous senior Conservatives accused of placing bets on the timing of the election based on information known only by a select few. The wagers were allegedly placed just days before the \u201csnap\u201d election was announced by then-prime minister Rishi Sunak.<\/p>\n

Conservative Downfall<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The scandal was one of the factors that contributed to the Conservative Party\u2019s landslide defeat in the election. A survey by thinktank Demos found the incident had further eroded voters\u2019 trust in the party\u2019s ability to govern.<\/p>\n

Among those accused was\u00a0Craig Williams<\/a>, who at the time, was Sunak\u2019s chief aide. Williams has admitted placing a \u00a3100 bet on a July election at odds of 5\/1.<\/p>\n

Also in the frame is Tony Lee, the Conservative Party\u2019s director of campaigns. Williams, along with Lee\u2019s wife, Laura Saunders, were standing in the election as prospective MPs but withdrew in the wake of the scandal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Embarrassingly for the Met, \u201cat least seven\u201d of its own officers, including one who was part of Sunak\u2019s protection detail<\/a>, were also investigated for insider election betting. Their cases are being examined by the Met\u2019s directorate of professional standards and the Gambling Commission.<\/p>\n

High Bar Not Met<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Misconduct in public office is a serious offense that has a maximum prison sentence of life. But after reviewing the case of the senior Conservatives, the Crown Prosecution determined that the \u201chigh bar for misconduct in public office to be proven was not met.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has therefore been agreed between the Met and the Gambling Commission that the more appropriate criminal offences to progress with would be those under the Gambling Act.\u201d a Met spokesperson said. \u201cWhile our involvement in the criminal investigation now ceases, it\u2019s important that is not misinterpreted as an all-clear for those whose cases were looked at.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UK Gambling Law prohibits \u201ccheating at gambling,\u201d but doesn’t define what this might involve. It is unclear therefore whether insider betting constitutes cheating in the eyes of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London\u2019s Metropolitan Police (the Met) has concluded its investigation into the betting scandal that marred the lead-up to Britain\u2019s July 4 general election. None of those investigated will be charged with misconduct in public office, the Met said. However, it\u2019s still possible that they could still be charged under the Gambling Act for cheating at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":329000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86644,21,61,84511,1074],"tags":[91271,87059,91445,92161],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-28T11:42:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-28T14:52:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/\",\"name\":\"UK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-28T11:42:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-28T14:52:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":637,\"caption\":\"Leaving 10 Downing Street: The betting scandal that enveloped the Conservative Party prior to the election contributed to Rishi Sunak\u2019s landslide defeat. (Image: Shutterstock)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UK Police Drop Probe Into Conservative Party Insider Betting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting","description":"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting","og_description":"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-08-28T11:42:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-28T14:52:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":637,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/","name":"UK Police Drop Probe into Conservative Party Insider Betting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-28T11:42:45+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-28T14:52:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Senior Conservatives accused of placing insider bets on UK general election won\u2019t be charged with misconduct in public office, Met says.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Sunak.jpg","width":1000,"height":637,"caption":"Leaving 10 Downing Street: The betting scandal that enveloped the Conservative Party prior to the election contributed to Rishi Sunak\u2019s landslide defeat. (Image: Shutterstock)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/uk-police-drop-probe-into-conservative-party-insider-betting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UK Police Drop Probe Into Conservative Party Insider Betting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329015,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328999\/revisions\/329015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}