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About Lichess
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.
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When asked his view on what will happen next, Weizer declined to comment, saying: “It’s very interesting. But as I’m sure you can understand, we are not going to answer any questions on litigation.
“We are under legal privilege and confidentiality rules, and we can’t simply take questions on the legal situation. We said what we needed to say following the Spectrum report being released earlier this week. So, that’s all I can say at this point in time.
“I have a lot to say, but I can’t.”
How to play Lichess
“The industry has a content problem,” he says. “There are thousands of games being released and too many of them are variations of something that already exists.
“Part of the reason is economics. When games take months and significant money to develop, people naturally become risk-averse. Building on something that already works becomes the safer option.”
For Curwen, tackling the problem therefore means changing the risk-reward equation behind game creation. If creators can develop and test ideas more quickly and at significantly lower cost, an unsuccessful experiment becomes less consequential – and taking a chance on something genuinely different becomes easier to justify.
