Craig Williams, former Conservative MP and parliamentary private secretary to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, pleaded guilty Monday at Southwark Crown Court to cheating at gambling by using confidential insider knowledge to place bets on the date of the 2024 UK general election.
Williams, 41, admitted placing three bets ranging from £22.50 to £250 on the election date, including a £100 wager on a July election placed days before Sunak publicly announced the July 4 date. Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC told the court that Williams had attended meetings at Downing Street and Conservative Party headquarters where the election timing was discussed. Three additional charges Williams had denied will be dropped at a later sentencing hearing.
The scandal first surfaced in June 2024 when The Guardian reported suspiciously timed wagers by individuals with party connections, days before Sunak’s announcement – made outside 10 Downing Street during a downpour – that he was calling an early election rather than waiting until the autumn as most observers anticipated. Labour won the election six weeks later, ending 14 years of Conservative government. The Gambling Commission opened a formal investigation, and in April 2025 fifteen people were charged under Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005. Williams had served as MP for Montgomeryshire from 2019 until losing his seat in the July 2024 vote.
Johnson KC said: “He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit.” Williams had initially characterised his conduct differently: in a video posted to social media in June 2024, he said, “I committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you.”
Amy Hind, 35, wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind, also pleaded guilty Monday to cheating at gambling and is due to be sentenced October 23. A charge against Anthony Hind for allegedly passing information to his wife was dropped. A dozen other defendants pleaded not guilty and face trials scheduled for September 2027 and January 2028, with potential two-year custodial sentences if convicted. Those remaining defendants include other Conservative Party figures and at least one police officer.
The Williams guilty plea is the most senior political scalp yet in a case that has drawn sustained scrutiny of how confidential government information intersects with the UK’s regulated betting markets. The Gambling Commission has significantly expanded its enforcement capacity in recent years, with a £26 million funding increase directed partly at tackling gambling-related misconduct. With trials not concluding until 2027 at the earliest, the election betting scandal will remain an active integrity question for the industry well into the next parliamentary cycle.
Source: CDC Gaming
Renata Kovacs has spent the better part of a decade following the regulatory shifts and licensing battles that define how gambling markets open, close, and evolve across Europe and beyond. She came up through the legal and compliance side of the industry before shifting her focus to journalism and analysis, giving her a perspective that sits closer to the operator room than the press box. Her coverage tends to cut through the noise and get straight to what a regulatory change actually means for the businesses and players involved.