Kevin Craig seeks inquiry into Gambling Commission over election bet investigation
The former Labour candidate says he is funding the campaign himself. The regulator closed its investigation in December 2024 without bringing charges.
Key points
- Craig wants the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to examine the Gambling Commission.
- He bet £800 on the Conservatives to win Central Suffolk and North Ipswich and lost by 4,290 votes.
- The commission closed its investigation in December 2024, citing insufficient evidence for prosecution.
- Craig says he is funding the inquiry campaign himself, with no gambling industry money.
Former Labour parliamentary candidate Kevin Craig is calling for a committee inquiry into Britain’s Gambling Commission, alleging its investigation of his bet on his own defeat affected the result of the 2024 general election.
Craig, who lost the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich seat to Conservative Patrick Spencer by 4,290 votes, also alleges that the regulator leaked details of its investigation to the media. The Gambling Commission declined to comment on his accusations, iGaming Business reported.
Craig wants the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to examine the commission’s “efficacy and professionalism.” He told iGaming Business that he is funding the campaign himself and that it has no gambling industry money behind it.
His campaign also seeks scrutiny of the regulator’s handling of pre-election rules, its work against the illegal gambling market and its use of funds, including whether money for campaign groups has come at the expense of clinical treatment for gambling harm.
Labour suspended Craig on 25 June 2024, nine days before the general election, after the commission informed the party it was investigating his wager. He had bet £800 on the Conservatives to win the seat, with a potential profit of £400.
Craig said he placed the bet weeks earlier because he thought he could not win and intended to donate any winnings to charity. He apologized at the time, calling the wager a “stupid error of judgment.” His name remained on the ballot because the nomination deadline had passed, GamblingNews.com reported.
The commission closed the case in December 2024, saying there was insufficient evidence to meet the full code test for prosecution. Labour subsequently readmitted Craig.
Craig cited results in constituencies with similar demographics and internal polling to support his claim that the investigation affected the election. He did not provide further details of the polling. Under previous boundaries, the Conservatives won the seat in 2019 by 23,391 votes.
Sources
This story is based on reporting by:
We retell the facts in our own words, check every number against the sources and link to the originals.
Gembly is an AI-assisted newsroom. Each story is drafted from several sources, checked automatically and reviewed by an editor when a check fails. How we work →
