Gambling Commission Begins Advertising for a New Chief Executive

The Gambling Commission is advertising for the vacant position of chief executive, taking a significant step towards replacing Andrew Rhodes, who stepped down from the position in April.

The position is advertised as a hybrid role with the British regulator, with regular office presence in Birmingham. The successful candidate will earn a salary of about £190,000 per year and will oversee what the Commission describes as a “significant period of change”, which will include overseeing reforms implemented following the Gambling Act Review.

They will also be tasked with leading an illegal markets programme, which will aim to disrupt illegal gambling within the UK, and delivering a return on HM Treasury’s three-year investment from 2026-27. In the Autumn Budget last November, the Treasury allocated an additional £26 million to the Commission across a three-year period.

What the Commission wants

The Commission is not specifically requiring candidates to have gambling industry experience or a particular number of years’ experience in any field. The chosen candidate must be able to demonstrate proven experience as a senior leader, with a track record of delivering organisational performance and leading large, complex organisations, as well as experience of leading significant organisational transformation.

Under the list of desirable requests, the Commission would ideally want to bring in a leader with proven experience as a chief executive, accounting officer, or in an equivalent senior leadership role within a complex organisation. It would also be preferable for the Commission to appoint someone with experience of operating within a regulatory, public sector, or other highly-regulated environment.

Knowledge of the UK gambling sector or other complex, technology-enabled and consumer-facing industries is another desirable. The application window will close at midnight on Friday, 23 October. It is currently unclear as to when the application process is expected to complete.

White Paper implementation

Following the Gambling Act Review, the new chief executive will be at the helm for the implementation of some of the terms recommended in the 2023 Gambling White Paper; one of the most significant publications in the history of gambling in the UK, which set out more than 60 proposals to update the country’s gambling laws.

Among the terms recommended were affordability checks, in an attempt to protect players spending a certain amount within a certain timeframe, improved identification checks, a statutory levy, and a cap on the maximum stakes on online slots at £5 for older adults and £2 for younger adults.

While these measures among others have either been implemented or are in the process of being implemented, a number of terms are still to be rolled out. These include reform at land-based venues, including cashless payments on machines, which is still in the rollout phase, as well as the introduction of a gambling ombudsman, which is yet to come to fruition.

New tax era

The new chief executive will also oversee a period of increased taxation, which could cause a number of operators to surrender their licenses. Next April, general betting duty, paid on online sports bets, will go up from 15% of gross gambling yield (GGY) to 25%. This follows an increase in remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, which increased to 40% of GGY from 21% last April.

Sarah Gardner has held the position of Acting Chief Executive since Rhodes’ departure in April. Upon his exit, Rhodes said it was a “difficult role” in an environment with “competing views.”