An alleged betting scandal has hit the Conservative Party weeks before the 4 July elections. The scandal couldn't have come at a worse time since it further plunges the already trailing party into crisis. 

The alleged scandal involves five people. They are Nick Mason, Craig Williams, Tony Lee, Laura Saunders (Lee’s wife) and an unnamed police officer. The police officer was in Sunak’s bodyguard unit.

How it begun

Bookmakers are obligated to alert the United Kingdom Gambling Commission whenever they come across suspicious betting patterns. Usually, the Gambling Commission is engaged in match-fixing scandals but is also mandated to tackle inside information bets such as this one. 

The Commission reported to the Police Force that it had been investigating "alleged bets made by a police constable from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, which were related to the timing of the General Election".

The first bets came to light on June 12 where Williams placed a £100 bet at Ladbrokes on May 19. He placed the bets in his local constituency Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr. 

Shortly after, Sunak announced his intent for the general election on May 22. 

After being contacted by a journalist concerning Gambling Commission inquiries into one of his accounts, Williams put out a statement saying, "I put a flutter on the general election some weeks ago. This has resulted in some routine inquiries and I confirm I will fully cooperate with these. I don’t want it to be a distraction from the campaign, I should have thought how it looks.”

The statement’s intention was to be “totally transparent”. 

On June 22, it was revealed that Laura Saunders and her husband, Tony Lee, were also being investigated. A statement released on behalf of Saunders said, “Ms Saunders will be cooperating with the Gambling Commission and has nothing further to add. It is inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media, and doing so risks jeopardising the work of the Gambling Commission and the integrity of its investigation.

“The publication of the BBC’s story is premature and is a clear infringement of Ms Saunders’ privacy rights. She is considering legal action against the BBC and any other publishers who infringe her privacy rights.”

Finally, the police officer involved was arrested and removed from operational duties. 

The Alleged Breach

The accused have potentially breached section 42 of the Gambling Act with the offence of “cheating”. According to the Act, it is when someone “cheats at gambling” or “does anything for the purpose of enabling or assisting another person to cheat at gambling”. 

The penalty for the breach carries a two-year prison sentence. 

However, there is minimal precedent on how to handle such cases.