Nigel Farage £5m Gift Probe Resumes Just as Crypto Betting Site Shuts Down

Nigel Farage may have comfortably won the Clacton by-election this week, but one of the controversies that prompted it has far from ‘gone away’.

Farage secured 63% of the vote after resigning his seat and triggering the unusual contest himself. However, his return to Parliament means the investigation into a £5 million gift from crypto billionaire, Christopher Harborne, can now resume.

At almost exactly the same time as the by-election result was announced, Tether.bet ceased operations. This is particularly relevant, as the offshore crypto gambling site is heavily linked to Farage associate and Reform UK supporter George Cottrell.

The two controversies are certainly separate, and at present there is no suggestion that Farage himself operated or gambled with Tether.bet. However, the timing must force us to reassess the relationship between gambling, crypto and British politics.

What happened to Tether.bet?

Tether.bet was an online sportsbook and casino operating from Montenegro. It was best known in the media for allowing customers to place extremely large bets using cryptocurrencies.

The platform has now ceased operating. Customers have been told to withdraw any remaining balances and at present, no reason for the closure has been publicly confirmed. Though the shutdown does follow scrutiny over whether the site had been serving British customers - despite not holding a UK Gambling Commission licence.

Providing gambling facilities to British consumers without the appropriate licence can constitute an offence under the Gambling Act 2005.

How does Tether.bet connect to Nigel Farage's £5m gift?

The connection between Tether.bet and Farage's £5 million controversy requires some untangling. Cottrell has been linked extensively with the business, although he has denied seeking customers for Tether.bet. He is also a longstanding associate of Farage and has separately faced scrutiny over financial and other support reportedly provided to the Reform UK leader.

However, the £5 million did not come from Cottrell, instead it came from Christopher Harborne back in 2024. Harborne is a crypto billionaire who in total has donated more than £25 million to Reform UK.

Farage has maintained that the £5 million sum was a personal gift and therefore did not need to be registered. However, Parliament's standards commissioner is investigating whether it should have been declared.

The link to the crypto gambling site is that Harborne is a shareholder in Tether. This is the company behind the stablecoin USDT, a cryptocurrency accepted by the gambling platform.

The Sunday Times reported that Harborne's payments company IFX was also involved in payment flows associated with Tether.bet.

Can politicians bet on politics?

For sports fans, this gambling controversy comes at an unusual time. While Everton forward Martin Sherif has been charged by the FA for alleged betting offences, it can feel as though politicians are under less scrutiny. Yet, there is no equivalent blanket prohibition preventing MPs or political staff from betting on political events.

The key restriction comes when someone uses confidential information to gain an unfair advantage, and only because this can amount to cheating under Section 42 of the Gambling Act.

The contrast is striking. A footballer can face disciplinary action simply for betting on football, without any allegation that they used inside information or influenced the outcome. Politicians, meanwhile, are not prohibited from betting on politics at all. The line is generally crossed when confidential information is used to gain an unfair advantage.

It raises an obvious question: if football considers simply having access to privileged information enough to justify a blanket betting ban, why doesn't politics?