UKGC Names Ruth Evans Permanent Chair After Long Search
The UK Gambling Commission has finally found a permanent chair. Ruth Evans will take over on September 30, replacing Charles Counsell, who has held the interim role since Marcus Boyle stepped down in January 2025. That departure kicked off a stretch of leadership uncertainty that saw several senior figures walk out the door.
Evans brings a background steeped in consumer protection and financial crime. She founded Stop Scams UK, chaired the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and the Bar Standards Board, and put in nine years as a lay member of the General Medical Council, where she led the Standards and Ethics Committee. She's also been a non-executive director of the Serious Fraud Office and chaired a steering group that worked to get compensation for victims of authorized push payment scams.
"I am delighted to have been appointed chair of the Gambling Commission at a time when its role in keeping gambling fair, safe and crime-free is more important than ever," Evans said. Her five-year term starts right after Counsell steps aside.
She walks into a regulator that's still sorting itself out. CEO Andrew Rhodes left in April, and executive director Tim Miller followed in June. Sarah Gardner is running things as acting chief executive for now, and the search for a permanent replacement continues. Over at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, there's been turnover too, including a new gambling minister and the secondment of civil servant Sarah Fox to pick up Miller's old portfolio.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy backed the appointment, saying Evans would help sustain the sector while keeping strong protections against gambling-related harm. Nandy also gave Counsell a send-off, calling him a "passionate and diligent chair."
The big question hanging over Evans is where gambling regulation heads next. Proposed changes, like scrapping the "aim to permit" principle, have already sparked talk about whether wider legislative reform is on the cards.
Evans said regulators, industry and technology firms will need to work together to get better outcomes for consumers. The chair post pays GBP 85,000 a year for two days a week. Filling the CEO vacancy remains the Commission's most pressing task, though. Evans gives the regulator a settled leader at the top, but the executive gap is still open.