Dr. Leighton Vaughan Williams
Dr. Leighton Vaughan Williams is Professor of Economics and Finance, Director of the Betting Research Unit, and Director of the Political Forecasting Unit at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. He acts as a consultant to the betting, gaming and related industries internationally, serving also as a senior advisor on the taxation, regulation, economics and prevalence of betting and gaming to HM Revenue & Customs, the National Audit Office, the 
Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the UK. He also has significant advisory experience related to new product ideas, development and customer insight.
He has served widely as an expert witness on betting and gaming issues, including before the House of Commons and House of Lords and before the Competition Commission. He has also acted as an expert witness at domestic and overseas courts of law, including the Central Criminal Court ('Old Bailey').
Leighton has extensive national and international TV and radio broadcast experience, as well as with the print and social media. He is a regular analyst for outlets including BBC News, BBC Radio 4 Today, the BBC World Service, ABC News, MSNBC, the Economist, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and as a blogger for the Huffington post and the Independent.
He is an expert in the uses of prediction markets for event forecasting and corporate decision-making, as well in the modelling and forecasting of sports and horserace betting. He also has expert knowledge of poker play and strategy.
Leighton is a widely consulted political forecaster and election analyst, including as polling and betting analyst on UK national elections for Channel 4 News. He is also widely quoted as a betting analyst and forecaster in relation to overseas elections, including US presidential and congressional elections and papal elections.
He is a regular keynote speaker for the corporate sector and at international academic conferences and symposia and author of over a hundred academic papers and books, including edited and contributed volumes on the economics of gambling for Oxford University Press and Edward Elgar, on prediction markets for Routledge, and on the efficiency of financial and betting markets for Oxford University Press.
He is Editor of Economic Issues, the Journal of Prediction Markets, the Journal of Gambling Business and a member of the editorial board of International Gambling Studies. He has also acted as guest editor for Economica, the International Journal of Forecasting and the Southern Economic Journal.
Leighton has a PhD in Economics and a First Class Honours degree (‘summa cum laude’) in Economics. He was educated at Hertford College, Oxford University and the University of Wales (University College, Cardiff).
Contact Information:
Email: leighton.vaughan-williams@ntu.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 6150