Kevin Craig Demands Inquiry Into Gambling Commission
Kevin Craig, the former Labour candidate who bet £800 on losing his own seat at the 2024 general election, is calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the Gambling Commission.
He says the regulator's investigation of his bet, and the leak of it to the press, changed the result in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. His claims are his own and have not been tested.
Craig set out his case in an interview with iGaming Business and in a self-funded campaign launched on Monday evening.
He wants the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to examine the Commission's efficacy and professionalism. No response from the Commission appears in the interview.
What Happened In 2024
In June 2024, Craig staked £800 on the Conservatives holding the seat, with a potential profit of £400 if he lost. Labour suspended him on 25 June 2024, nine days before polling day, after the Commission told party officials it was investigating the bet.
Because nominations had closed, his name stayed on the ballot. He said at the time that he placed the bet weeks earlier, believing he could not win, and planned to give any winnings to charity. He described it as a stupid error of judgment.
As the BBC reported in December 2024, the Commission closed the investigation after concluding it did not have sufficient evidence, and took no further action. Labour readmitted him. Craig also said then that he was working on a draft bill to stop election candidates and political staff betting on elections.
The Claims Now Being Made
Craig lost by 4,290 votes to the Conservative candidate Patrick Spencer. Under the previous boundaries the Conservatives had won the seat in 2019 by 23,391 votes, and Labour's share there rose only slightly in 2024 while the party won a landslide nationally.
Craig bases his claim on results in constituencies with similar demographics and on internal polling that he says showed him doing well, though he did not publish figures.
He also says the Commission leaked the investigation. In his account, a written letter accusing him of cheating should have reached only him, so he asks how it reached the media. He warns the same could happen to any candidate at the next election.
He says no gambling industry money is behind the campaign, and that PLMR, the lobbying firm he founded, has had no betting site or trade body clients in the past five years.
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What He Wants Examined
The campaign asks the committee to look at whether the Commission has adequate safeguards to enforce pre-election purdah rules, and whether enough attention goes to the illegal market. It also questions the Commission's use of quasi-public funds.
That includes whether it broke its own rules by funding lobbying and campaigning, and whether money for campaign groups has come at the expense of clinical treatment for gambling harm. The timing coincides with the culture secretary reviewing candidates for the regulator's next chief executive.
Craig's case is separate from the Commission's investigation into bets on the timing of the 2024 election. Former Conservative MP Craig Williams pleaded guilty to cheating in June and awaits sentencing, and three others, including ex-party staffer Amy Hind, received suspended sentences in October.
Ten more are due to stand trial in 2027 and 2028. For background on how the regulator works, see our coverage of the UK Gambling Commission's illegal market research.
