Ex-Tory MP admits cheating on election bets

• Craig Williams and Amy Hind pleaded guilty to cheating on election betting, becoming the first of 15 defendants charged to admit guilt.
• Pair used confidential information about Sunak’s 2024 election date to place bets at multiple operators.
• 12 remaining defendants face trial in two phases, starting September 2027 at Southwark Crown Court.

Former Conservative MP Craig Williams and former Conservative Party staffer Amy Hind have pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling, over bets placed using confidential information about the 2024 UK general election date.

The pleas were entered at Southwark Crown Court yesterday, 29 June.

Inside the scheme

The case centres on bets placed ahead of then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement on 22 May 2024 that the election would be held on 4 July.

Several gambling operators had offered markets allowing customers to speculate on the election date itself, a niche corner of the wider political betting sector.

Court details set out the scale of the wagers involved. Williams placed bets of £250, £100 and £22.50 on the election date, prosecutors said. Hind placed smaller bets of £10, £5 and £20 before attempting to stake £767 and £700 on a July poll on 13 May 2024.

Those larger attempts failed, and a further bid the following day also fell through, before she successfully placed a £100 bet on a July election at odds of 11-1.

The Gambling Commission’s investigation, Operation Scott, examined betting by 15 individuals connected to politics and Conservative Party staff, including a former police close protection officer. Williams and Hind are the first to admit guilt; 12 remaining defendants deny the charges and face trial in two phases, scheduled for September 2027 and January 2028.

The scandal first became public in June 2024, after reports that Williams had placed a bet on the election date days before it was announced.

A separate Metropolitan Police inquiry into related conduct closed without charges in August 2024, while the Gambling Commission’s own investigation continued, leading to charges against 15 people in April 2025.

Privileged access exploited

Williams served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sunak from October 2022 and was sworn into the King’s Privy Council in November 2023. He was Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire from December 2019 until Parliament’s dissolution ahead of the election.

The Gambling Commission, commenting on the case, said:

“As a result of his privileged position Craig Williams attended various meetings with the Prime Minister and senior staff at Conservative Central Headquarters during which the date of the General Election was discussed. This was highly sensitive and confidential information but instead of keeping it secret Craig Williams sought to profit from it.”

Hind, who worked as an NHS business support manager at the time of the investigation, had previously held several roles within the Conservative Party. A separate charge against her husband, Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind, accused of passing information to his wife, was dropped by prosecutors.

The regulator added:

“Amy Hind placed bets on the 2024 general election with the benefit of confidential information passed to her about when that election would be called.”

Sentencing and trial dates

Hind is due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 23 October, before Judge Tony Baumgartner, the Recorder of Westminster. Williams will not be sentenced until the remaining co-defendants’ trials have concluded, the court was told.

Among those denying the charges are former Senedd member Russell George and former Welsh Conservatives director Thomas James.

Also charged is Jeremy Hunt, a former Metropolitan Police close protection officer who worked in Downing Street, not the former Conservative cabinet minister of the same name.

Political betting holds firm

Despite the scandal, political betting markets continue to draw strong volumes in the UK.

According to Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom, the recent Makerfield by-election that returned former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to Parliament became the largest by-election market in the Betfair Exchange’s history, with more than £1.9m traded.

The outcome of the remaining trials will show how operators and the Gambling Commission approach political betting products going forward, particularly around safeguards for time-sensitive markets tied to confidential government decisions.