One thing most people will remember from the 2024 general election campaign is the betting scandal in which a number of people in the Conservative Party – some of whose guesses might have been, shall we say, educated – placed bets on the date of the election just before that date was announced. But another, more far-reaching scandal took place in full view, and it illustrates why gambling is always a terrible idea.
During the campaign, I repeatedly checked the odds being offered by the UK’s biggest betting companies on the outcome of the election. For weeks, one of the most popular bets being placed was that the Conservatives would win an overall majority. This wasn’t because anyone thought this was likely to happen, but because the bookies were offering exceptionally long odds on a Tory majority in order to persuade punters to give it a go, typically 150 to one.
Content from our partners
