ALISTER Jack has claimed he won more than £2000 betting on the date of the General Election.
Jack, a multi-millionaire who as Scottish Secretary had a place in the Tory Cabinet, told the BBC he had won £2100 after betting on a June or July election just after Rishi Sunak called the vote for July 4.
The BBC reported that he had further claimed one of the bets was placed at odds of 25/1.
However, last week, he told the BBC the comments were a “joke”.
Now, he has released a statement saying he did not place any bets on the date of the General Election "during May”.
“I am very clear that I have never, on any occasion, broken any Gambling Commission rules”, Jack said.
“I did not place any bets on the date of the General Election during May – the period under investigation by the Gambling Commission.
“Furthermore, I am not aware of any family or friends placing bets. I have nothing more to say on this matter.”
Jack's qualification that he did not bet on the timing of the election "during May" has led the SNP to demand he reveals exactly what bets he did make and when.
"Alister Jack has a duty to come forward with the full details of precisely what bets he placed on the election and when – the public deserve answers immediately," SNP Scotland spokesperson and candidate for Edinburgh East Tommy Sheppard said.
"As a senior cabinet member in the Tory government, and a well known confidant of Sunak, Jack is obviously in the loop when it comes to Conservative party planning."
Jack is not standing for re-election in the July 4 vote, and is widely expected to be given a life peerage in the Lords in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours.
A spokesperson for the Gambling Commission said: “We are not confirming or denying the identity of any individuals involved in this investigation.”
The BBC reported that Jack had been “telling colleagues and journalists for at least a year that he thought a June or July election made the most strategic sense for his party”.
The news comes amid a growing betting scandal engulfing both the Tories and Labour.
Sunak has pulled support from Conservative candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders amid the row.
Saunders’s husband Tony Lee, the Tories' director of campaigning, and chief data officer Nick Mason have stepped back from their duties.
And in a sign of the wider scope of a Gambling Commission investigation, the watchdog passed information to the Metropolitan Police alleging that five more officers had placed bets related to the timing of the poll.
In addition to a member of Sunak’s protection team who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, Scotland Yard said the other officers were also alleged to have placed bets.
The officers are based on the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit, but none of them work in a close protection role.
Labour also suspended parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig, who is being investigated by the Gambling Commission after he placed a bet that he would lose the contest for the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency to the Conservatives.
Craig admitted to the bet on Tuesday evening, saying it was “a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly”.
