Betting giant Ladbrokes is said to be considering whether to accept wagers for future series of BBC’s Great British Bake Off amid allegations that staff associated with the hit show placed wagers on the winner.
‘Internal Bets’ Claim
According to The Sun, the bookmaker is investigating claims that up to £10,000 worth of bets on the current series were placed by people with links to the BBC or GBBO production company Love Productions. A total of 529 bets across 42 gambling accounts are being looked into as part of the investigation.The accounts in question were created ahead of Wednesday’s final being aired on BBC One. Great British Bake Off is pre-recorded and Ladbrokes took the step to suspend betting on this year’s show in August following rumours that the winner’s name had been leaked.
Ladbrokes Investigating Claim
A spokesman for Ladbrokes said, “We flagged at the start of the series and we thought something smelled a bit strange. We are looking into it further. If we feel we’ve had the equivalent of a custard pie thrown in our faces we will think twice about whether we should bet on markets like this again in the future”.A Love Productions representative told The Sun: “We take any allegation of breach extremely seriously.” Meanwhile, a BBC spokesman commented: “We have no knowledge of these claims and have asked The Sun to provide us with details to be able to look into it. We are still waiting.”Over 13million viewers tuned in to this year’s Great British Bake Off final, making it the most popular television programme of the year so far.