Biographical notes for Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams: 

Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams is Professor of Economics and Finance and Head of Economics Research at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. He was educated at University College, Cardiff and Hertford College, Oxford University, and holds a First Class Honours degree and a PhD in economics, specializing in betting and gaming.  Prof. Vaughan Williams is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Editor of ‘Economic Issues’, Editor of the 'Journal of Prediction Markets', Editor of the 'Journal of Gambling Business and Economics', Associate Editor of the ‘European Journal of Finance’ and a member of the Editorial Board of ‘International Gambling Studies.’  He has published extensively in the academic literature, including the Economic Journal, the National Tax Journal and the Journal of Forecasting, and has written and edited three volumes on gambling markets, including ‘The Economics of Gambling’ (Routledge) and ‘Information Efficiency in Financial and Betting Markets’ (Cambridge University Press).  He also acts widely in an advisory and consultative capacity to the commercial and Government sectors, including since 2000 as adviser to HM Revenue and Customs/HM Customs and Excise on betting and gaming tax policy, and to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the National Audit Office. 

The two key consultancy reports of Professor Vaughan Williams, produced for the UK Government, were used as a critical part of the process leading to the Chancellor's decisions, in the 2001, 2003 and 2006 Budgets, to overhaul the structure and rates of gambling taxation in the UK, and he has latterly given oral and commissioned written evidence to the Joint Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons and House of Lords on the draft gambling bill as well as acting as adviser on the Bill to HM Revenue and Customs/HM Customs and Excise and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 

Contact details
Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams
Betting Research Unit
Nottingham Business School
Nottingham Trent University
Burton Street Nottingham 
NG1 4BU
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 6150
Email: leighton.vaughan-williams@ntu.ac.uk