UK Election Betting Investigation Adds Two More Guilty Pleas

LONDON – Two more defendants in the UK’s 2024 General Election betting investigation pleaded guilty to cheating offences on Sept. 10.

Anthony Lee and Laura Lee now face sentencing as the Gambling Commission continues prosecuting cases involving bets placed using confidential information about the election date.

Anthony Lee pleaded guilty to two cheating offences under sections 42(1)(a) and 42(1)(b) of the Gambling Act 2005. Laura Lee, formerly Laura Saunders, pleaded guilty to one offence under section 42(1)(a), according to the Gambling Commission announcement.

Confidential Election Date Information Used for Bets

The case centers on wagers placed before then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak publicly announced on May 22, 2024 that the General Election would take place on July 4. Gambling operators had offered markets allowing customers to bet on when the election would be held.

Anthony Lee was the Conservative Party’s Director of Campaigning and had access to sensitive discussions about the election date at Conservative Campaign Headquarters, according to the Commission. The regulator said he used that information to place bets himself and also passed confidential information to his wife.

Laura Lee was Head of International for the Conservative Party and its candidate for Bristol North-West in the 2024 election. The Commission said she used information supplied by her husband when placing bets on when the election would be called.

The guilty pleas advance an investigation that began after unusual betting activity around the UK election date emerged before Sunak’s announcement. Anthony Lee and Laura Saunders, as she was then known, were among the figures identified during the early stages of the inquiry.

Four Defendants Have Now Pleaded Guilty

The latest pleas follow admissions from Craig Williams and Amy Hind on June 29. Both pleaded guilty to cheating offences under the Gambling Act 2005 involving confidential information about the election timing.

Williams, a former parliamentary private secretary to Sunak and former MP for Montgomeryshire, had access to discussions about the election date before the public announcement. The Commission said Hind received confidential information and used it to place election-date bets.

The Gambling Commission originally charged 15 people in April 2025 following an investigation launched in June 2024. The alleged offences concerned the use of advance knowledge about the proposed election date to gain an advantage in betting markets.

Sentencing Set for October

Anthony Lee, Laura Lee and Amy Hind are scheduled to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Oct. 23. Williams is also awaiting sentencing, although the Commission has not announced a date for his hearing.

Separate trials involving 10 defendants are scheduled for September 2027 and January 2028. Those defendants have not been convicted, and their cases remain pending before the courts.

The Sept. 10 pleas bring another stage of the Gambling Commission’s investigation to a conclusion, but the wider prosecution will continue through the scheduled sentencing hearings and trials.

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