More Betting Allegations

[Untitled]

https://news.sky.com/story/top-conservative-official-takes-leave-of-absence-amid-new-election-betting-allegations-13157405
 

the conservative party's chief data officer has taken a leave of absence due to allegations that he placed dozens of bets on the date of the election before it was announced. he is the fourth tory official so far who has been accused of doing so
 

could there be a more fitting epitaph for the last 14 years?

[ToraToraTora]

Incredible isn't it. They could only have won a few hundred. Radio rental.

[Old_Geezer]

Well it'd be difficult to place a bet after the date had been announced.

[Hymie]

I’ve already posted my view on this – it’s rather like I’m going to roll a dice (to pick a random number) and the bookies are going to allow me to place a bet on the outcome.

However I’m going to roll the dice on Wednesday (at 12 noon), and the bookies know this and are willing to accept bets up until Thursday (at 12 noon) and there is no restriction on who I might inform of the outcome of the dice roll.

If the bookies are stupid enough to accept bets on the above scenario, then they deserve to lose everything.

[perseverer]

My understanding, may be wrong, is that the bookies were offering odds on a number of dates, so you could pick from these dates. There was a sudden surge in bets placed the day before the announcement.

Even at odds of 5 or 6 to one, placing dozens of bets could get you a substantial profit.

[Ken4155]

One bet on the exact date the PM announced (very soon after the bets were placed) coukd just be a lucky guess. Multiple bets on that particular date is obviously akin to insider trading.

If these multiple bets were placed with the same 'firm', then i tend to agree with Hymie in that the bokes were stupid to take them. However, if these people have been 'sensible' (i use that term very loosely) and used various firms, then the 'suspicious activity' wouldn't initially be apparent.

 

[sandyRoe]

They seem to have used accounts with the bookmakers to place their bets and so we're easily traced.

If you walked into a betting shop and placed a bet with cash you'd be given a docket and the staff would have no idea who you were.

Going back to try and collect your winnings might have been problematic if there was a scandal brewing around others who had used accounts to place their bets.

[Peter Pedant]

It strikes me as really easy

2nd July - 3 bets, 3 rd, 5 bets and 4th July 327 bets

it  is obvious that there is something going on.... - direct parallel to insider share trading - this is not rocket science

Do you have do take a special 'Durrr' exam to be a member of the inner circle tory party ?

[Peter Pedant]

er I made those numbers up just for illustration - note to self, this is AB

[jno]

it said dozens of bets, all under £100 but he could have won thousands in total. Well, maybe it's all untrue or misleading or something but sheesh, people carry on as if they're invisible and nobody will see what they've been up to.

[wolf63]

I would never risk my job (if I had one) or tarnish my reputation for the sort of money these eejits would recoup.

If they hadn't been found out at this stage I am sure that someone would have found out about it and blabbed to press or police.

Not exactly master criminals, brainless morons is more like it.

[Ellipsis]

It makes you wonder what else they've got away with in the past with inside information ...

[Peter Pedant]

done it before ? No I dont think elections are slam dunks - OK Thatcher no 1 and Bliar 1997

I suppose you cd bet on any election

[Peter Pedant]

multiple small bets shows an intention to conceal.....

so he knew it was wrong - naughty boy!

[Ellipsis]

> done it before ? No I dont think elections are slam dunks - OK Thatcher no 1 and Bliar 1997

They bet on the timing of the election, not the result ...

Given their obvious propensity to gain personally from insider information, it's hard to believe this would be the first time  ever that they'd profited.  The number of different people involved suggests that it's more a culture of profiting, the same kind of toxic culture that brought suitcases of wine into Number 10 during lockdown ... absolutely extracting the urine over us plebs.