Multimillionaire Derek Webb has given Labour £1.3 million since the start of 2023 and he’s given £160,000 to the Social Market Foundation (SMF) – which describes itself as “independent”. Theo Bertram, an ex-spinner SpAd for Gordon Brown, now heads the SMF and advocates excise duty on gambling be doubled to 42%. Gordon Brown – yes, Gordon’s alive – wants to establish a new “poverty fund”. Which he hopes will take in another £9 billion from taxing us, banks, and gamblers even more…
Gordon’s policy paper was unsurprisingly backed enthusiastically by the Social Market Foundation. Do not be deceived into thinking that there is a genuine groundswell of approval for taxing punters, this is an anti-gambling campaign…
The SMF are leading the charge on taxing gambling, in fact they embrace nanny statism openly, advocating for taxes on any small joy which they see as a vice. Unfortunately as Rachel Reeves starts to run out of other people’s money to spend, she will be eagerly looking for new taxes…
Aveek Bhattachayra, formerly the SMF’s economist, transferred to the Treasury in March as Head of Excise. Coincidentally the Treasury has now begun a “consultation” on remote gambling. Labour is coming for your racing and online bingo…
This morning sees the start of the Investment Summit hosted by Rachel Reeves and she has put out the line to The Times that “investments are a vote of confidence in the UK and the stability that this government has brought back to the economy.” She claims “Britain is open for business.” Unfortunately the Treasury also let it be known to the Guardian that officials are considering proposals to double taxes levied on the gaming sector, as Rachel Reeves “aims to pull every lever possible to raise funds in her upcoming budget.” Seeing as her manifesto revenue-raising proposals have been exposed as a fantasy…
UK gambling stocks slumped this morning following the report that Rachel Reeves is weighing proposals to increase taxes on the industry by as much as £3 billion. Whoops…
Jefferies investment bank analyst James Wheatcroft called the proposals “unrealistic” adding “the proposals apparently being considered would all but wipe out bookmaker profitability in the UK, per our estimates”. Shares in Ladbrokes-owner Entain Plc dropped 15%, casinos operator Rank Group Plc fell nearly 7%. Evoke Plc, owner of the William Hill betting brand, slid 16% and New York listed Flutter Entertainment tumbled 8.8% on the back of the tax hike report. Hardly the pro-business news that investors at the summit want to hear…
The British gaming industry is a global player, with the major groups employing software engineers and operations being major employers in Stoke, Manchester, Leeds, and Sunderland. Taxes on business are taxes on jobs…
The Metropolitan Police have announced that they will not be pursuing any charges of misconduct in public office against politicians and political figures who placed bets on the election date. Their statement says “the cases will be passed back to the Gambling Commission for further investigation.” Guido told you so…
As co-conspirators know, the Section 42 definition of “Cheating” as per the Gambling Act applies when you nobble a horse, bribe a croupier or mark cards – not when you have inside information that your bet is a dead certainty. Whilst the optics and ethical dimension of the bets are not good, it still required interference to be a crime. The scandal was load of bollocks and an effective muddying of the waters for political purposes…
It’s fairly likely that the bets in question might be voided* as often happens. The Lobby journalists who placed their own bets using “insider information” will be breathing a sigh of relief…
*Guido’s after the event bet appears to have been quietly voided if he is not mistaken.
Some weeks ago Rishi was standing in the rain and told Guido the date of the election. Believe it or not you can still bet on the date of the general election, so today Guido put a bet a £1 on the date, or more specifically a £1 bet on when it would not be. It’s apparently a sure thing and according to an hysterical media this is a crime. It isn’t for obvious commonsense reasons. No one has ever been prosecuted in these circumstances.
What is likely to happen after all this hoo ha is that the bets will be voided and all the monies returned. The only people likely to be prosecuted are police officers and even then it is more likely they will be given an official warning / admonishment. If the Labour campaigners working at the Gambling Commission think otherwise they know where to find Guido. This nonsense has been beyond ridiculous and flimsy.
Labour has just suspended their candidate for Central Suffolk & North Ipswich, Kevin Craig, after being told the Gambling Commission has launched an investigation into him. Pushed onto the sword…
UPDATE: Sky News says Craig placed a bet on the outcome of his constituency, not on the date of the election.
UPDATE II: The BBC reports that Craig bet against himself.
The current Head of Public Affairs at the Gambling Commission is George Sinnott, who joined the Birmingham-based regulator after leading Labour’s Sion Simon’s unsuccessful 2017 West Midlands Mayoral campaign. And who was leading Andy Street’s successful West Midlands Mayoral campaign in 2017? Answer: Tony Lee – now former head of Tory campaigning who’s wife put the bet on the date. Weird coincidence?
While this may be a coincidence, it raises questions about whether George used this inside information to seek revenge on his former rival. George has also worked for numerous Labour MPs. Guido called the Gambling Commission to speak to George – they claimed that in the middle of the biggest media storm they have ever been in – that the head of public affairs was off today. They said they would not be commenting on the investigation.
The leaks are coming from someone – George Sinnott worked for the Labour Party in various positions for 15 years before joining the Gambling Commission. He also praised Starmer’s election as Labour leader on social media while he was working there. It is widely believed he is the source of what are frankly ridiculous claims that betting on the date of the election could be a crime if you were in the know. There has never been a conviction in this situation.
UPDATE: Sinnott gets in touch to say “I am clear I have not leaked any information”.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones told the Today Programme it wasn’t ‘appropriate’ to ask whether or not David Lammy was shopping prior to DPMQs instead of trying to sort out the released prisoner:
“He was preparing for Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions. He was preparing to stand in for the Prime Minister, the first ever black person to do so… He cracked a joke because his poppy had fallen off this suit, which he also addressed during the Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions… I don’t think it’s appropriate to get into the weeds of if he was shopping or not in the morning.”
