SENIOR Conservatives placing bets on the timing of the General Election could constitute a “criminal offence”, a corruption expert has said.
It comes after Scottish Secretary Alister Jack admitted to having profited from gambling on the election date – which was set by his ally and Cabinet colleague Rishi Sunak.
On Monday, the BBC reported that Jack had said soon after Sunak announced a General Election for July 4 that he had won £2100 with bets on the date.
The Scottish Tory told the broadcaster he had gambled multiple times, with one flutter at odds of 25/1. He later told the BBC his comments had been a “joke”.
However, Jack then released a statement saying he had not placed any bets on the date of the General Election “during May” – leading the SNP to demand he explain exactly when he did place bets.
In a statement put out later on Tuesday, Jack admitted he had in fact placed three bets on the date of the General Election but insisted he had “not breached any gambling rules”.
He said that in March, he placed two unsuccessful bets of £5 for a vote to be held in May and June respectively.
Then, he said that in April he had put £20 at odds of 5/1 on an election being held between July and September.
Jack added: “As I have said previously, I placed no bets in May and am not under investigation by the Gambling Commission.”
Professor Dan Hough, the director of the Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption (SCSC) who has authored two books on the topic, suggested that bets from top Tories like Jack could constitute a “criminal offence”.
Hough said: “Rishi Sunak has called for 'the full force of the law' to be applied to Tories who are suspected to have gambled on the date of the 2024 election. He is right.
“A bet on a high-profile event might feel innocuous, but this isn't Euro 2024 or the T20 World Cup; this is an event someone that those involved have close relations with. Indeed, Sunak alone has the power to shape the timing of the event in question.
“In effect, that's insider trading. And that's a criminal offence.”
Dr Sam Power, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Sussex, said the betting scandal was having “more cut through with the general public than Rishi Sunak leaving the D-Day commemorations early, which gives you some sense – especially with the polls nearing – about how damaging this is for Rishi Sunak's campaign”.
Power went on: “If Sunak had suspended those under investigation from the start, he could have mediated much of the electoral costs, but it now simply compounds the dire view the public have on the Conservatives.
“At the same time, it risks shifting from being a Conservative issue, to a political class issue.
“We know that politicians and political institutions consistently score towards the bottom on measures of public trust, but in 2023 trust in politics was at its lowest since 1983.
“It's clear that the incoming government has a job on its hands to restore public confidence, and the betting scandal makes it incredibly likely that a wholesale standards review will be a top priority.”
Jack is the latest of seven politicians and officials to be drawn in to the gambling controversy.
Sunak has already withdrawn support for two parliamentary candidates facing a Gambling Commission investigation.
Craig Williams, who is standing in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, and Laura Saunders, who is standing in Bristol North West, will still appear on the ballot paper.
Saunders’s husband, Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigning, and chief data officer, Nick Mason, have stepped back from their duties.
Welsh Conservative member of the Senedd Russell George stepped back from the shadow cabinet after it emerged he was facing a probe by the watchdog over alleged betting on the timing of the poll.
Labour was also dragged into the row on Tuesday, with the party suspending its candidate Kevin Craig after it emerged he had bet that he would lose to the Tories in the contest for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.
In a sign of the widened scope of the Gambling Commission’s investigation, the watchdog passed information to Scotland Yard alleging that five more officers – in addition to a member of Mr Sunak’s protection team who was arrested earlier this month – had placed bets.
The Metropolitan Police said it was still the case that only one officer is under criminal investigation but that its Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed.
