Kevin Craig says he is campaigning for an investigation into the UK Gambling Commission over its inquiry into his 2024 election wager. The UKGC cleared him of wrongdoing in December 2024; Craig alleges that disclosure of the bet contributed to his election loss.
The dispute concerns regulatory oversight of political betting and the treatment of candidates who wager on elections.
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The Gambling Commission published its 2026 survey of gambling among 11- to 17-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales. It found that 74% had never gambled, while 5% said they had spent their own money on age-restricted products. The Commission said the results are self-reported estimates and help inform regulatory work to protect young people.
The Gambling Commission said a post-tournament survey of 834 UK adults who bet on the 2026 Fifa World Cup found newcomers to football betting felt less equipped to make informed choices than more experienced bettors. Six in ten first-time bettors said they had enough information, compared with 83% of occasional tournament bettors and 91% of regular football bettors; the Commission cautioned that the first-time group was small.
The UK’s increase in Machine Games Duty from 20% to 25% for higher-value category B machines does not protect all seaside arcade income, the British Amusement Catering Trade Association said. Category C machines remain taxed at 20% and category D machines at 5%; Bacta said income from category B machines in adult gaming centre sections helps support wider arcade operations, but it has not yet assessed how many machines will face the higher rate.
Machine Games Duty is rising from 20% to 25% solely for higher-value category B gaming machines, according to the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (Bacta). Many traditional seaside arcades depend on revenue from those machines to sustain their broader operations. The association said the chancellor’s attempt to shield pubs and seaside amusements did not fully reflect how coastal businesses operate.
Illegal betting sites accounted for around 16% of visits to sampled UK horseracing betting websites between January and July 2026, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities found. Its study recorded about 11 million visits to illegal sites and 56.9 million to legal platforms; British Horseracing Authority chief executive Brant Dunshea said the findings supported its concerns about the effects of policy changes.
The Gambling Commission has launched an Illegal Gambling Index to track engagement with unlicensed gambling websites in Great Britain. Its survey found that 4% of online gamblers showed indicators of engagement in the previous 12 months, while 1% of all respondents did. The index combines seven behavioural indicators and will be used alongside Gambling Survey for Great Britain data to monitor trends.
A new Illegal Gambling Index will monitor consumers' engagement with unlicensed sites, according to the Gambling Commission; its initial findings showed engagement among 4% of people who gambled online in the previous 12 months. Among all respondents, the figure was 1%.