About this app
How to play Bubble Beauty
The Commission launched its investigation into various reports of insider betting on the election date in June 2024 after Ladbrokes flagged a bet placed by Williams, who was recorded as a politically exposed person.
Further bets flagged by operators involved other politically sensitive individuals, including Metropolitan Police officers and political advisers. The Commission charged 15 people total in April 2025. Four have now pleaded guilty.
The offences relate to special betting markets that let customers wager on the exact date of the general election.
What is Bubble Beauty?
Since then, annual advertising expenditure by licensed operators has grown substantially and is now estimated to be between £1 billion and £2 billion, accoridng to , the report said.
According to the committee, robust evidence now links gambling advertising to increased participation and associated harms.
Committee Chair Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede highlighted that, since 2020, the growth of online marketing techniques and associated harms have shifted the debate substantially.
How to play Bubble Beauty
They took the dispute to international arbitration, claiming Laos had violated investment treaties protecting their businesses.
The two sides reached a settlement in 2014, but that agreement also fell apart, and the casino companies renewed their claims.
Ultimately, the gamble backfired.