Ruth Evans Appointed Chair of UK Gambling Commission

Counsell became interim Chair in February 2025 after Marcus Boyle left the Commission in January. Evans’ appointment restores a permanent Chair after more than 18 months.

It is also part of a wider senior transition. Executive Director Tim Miller is leaving the Gambling Commission after a decade, while the regulator has operated with interim executive leadership following Andrew Rhodes’ departure. The changes come as the Commission manages policy implementation, supervision and enforcement.

The Chair is a non-executive governance position rather than the day-to-day operational lead. Evans will head the Board, support strategic oversight and hold senior management to account. The role pays £85,000 a year for a two-day weekly commitment.

Evans will take office as the Commission continues work arising from the government’s Gambling Act Review. The programme has moved through consultation and phased implementation, requiring operators to track when individual rules take effect rather than treating reform as one event.

For licence holders, governance, customer interaction systems, reporting and technical controls must align with confirmed requirements and commencement dates. The UKGC’s licensing reform timetable shows how staggered changes can create overlapping deadlines for compliance, product and technology teams.

Financial risk assessments remain closely watched parts of the agenda. Debate has centred on whether checks can identify risk while remaining proportionate and minimally disruptive. That tension puts evidence, transparency and industry engagement at the centre of delivery.

Evans is Chair of Stop Scams UK, a collaboration involving banks, technology companies and telecommunications providers. She previously chaired the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, was the first Chair of the Bar Standards Board, served as a lay member of the General Medical Council and held a non-executive role at the Serious Fraud Office.

In 2018, she chaired the steering group that developed a voluntary industry code for reimbursing victims of authorised push payment fraud.

Evans said:

Throughout my career in consumer protection, I have seen that the best outcomes are achieved through effective collaboration between regulators, industry and the technology sector.

That experience is relevant to a regulator whose objectives include keeping gambling fair and open, protecting children and vulnerable people, and preventing gambling from becoming a source of crime. The £2.022 million Spreadex settlement over anti-money laundering and social responsibility failings shows how financial controls and safer-gambling duties can intersect in compliance assessments.

However, Evans’ background should not be treated as a forecast of new rules. Policy is shaped through legislation, evidence, consultation and collective governance. The announcement sets out broad priorities but does not introduce or propose any policy change.

Counsell said the Commission is developing a new strategy and increasing work against unlicensed gambling. Blask data on UK iGaming demand after the Remote Gaming Duty increase found limited offshore demand but growing projected revenue potential.

The Commission has called on licensed operators and suppliers to help make unlicensed activity commercially harder to sustain. Its appeal for industry action against suppliers supporting unlicensed gambling highlights the expectation that B2B companies understand where their products and services ultimately appear.

For regulated operators, the leadership change does not pause current obligations. Boards and compliance teams must continue to monitor implementation dates, test customer-protection controls, maintain effective anti-money laundering systems and examine third-party exposure. Evans’ formal arrival on 30 September begins a new governance chapter while active reform and enforcement programmes continue.