UK Gambling Regulator Faces £26m Test With New CEO

Key Points

• The Gambling Commission’s after a permanent CEO, and they’re prepared to pay around £190,000 a year for the job, which is the same as the lowest point of the salary band the old boss was on.
• The new chief has a big ask: they’ll need to show a return on the £26 million the Treasury handed over to tackle the black markets, something that starts in 2026/27.
• HMRC’s own tax paper says that jacking up duties could push some players towards the very black market the new chief is supposed to be fighting.

A £190,000 Job With Strings Attached

The Gambling Commission is looking for a new chief exec, and they’re offering around £190,000 to get the job. The application deadline is noon on 23 October 2026, just in time for the autumn half-term break.

The salary’s the least of it, however; the real ask is in the job description. You’ll need to lead the Illegal Markets programme, “delivering a return on the Treasury’s three-year investment from 2026/27”, which is a pretty tall order. And to make things even more interesting, the Commission will need to show some measurable impact; in other words, some actual results. Not just ticking boxes.

A Pay Packet That’s Not Going Anywhere

The new boss won’t be getting a huge pay rise. According to the Commission’s own report, the last chief was on £190,000 to £195,000 a year, plus a bit of a bonus to boot, taking his total to between £300,000 and £305,000 a year. The new offer of £190,000 a year matches the lowest point of that old salary band.

In fact, the acting chief, Sarah Gardner, was only on £150,000 to £155,000 a year when she was deputy last year.

Running On Tighter Money

The job itself is pretty heavy going; the government’s introduced new licence fees, and these have risen by 25% (or at least, they have for some types of licence). And to make matters worse, the regulator’s running annual deficits of about £4 million. Even after the fee rise, they’ve got to find at least £8 million in savings over the next five years.

And then there’s the strategy work; the current five-year plan only goes until 2027, and the new chief will need to come up with something new for the board to go over. And as Accounting Officer, they’ll also have to give Parliament some peace of mind that they’re not wasting any cash.

Gambling Experience Is Encouraged, Under One Important Precondition

Gambling knowledge is listed as something desired but not required. The six criteria that the applicant must have are: experience of running a large company, skills of digital transformation, data transformation, finance and risk judgement. In addition, the applicant is supposed to work well in the atmosphere of public attention.

It is especially important how the description treats the issue of candidates with industry experience. The statement says that “candidates with direct industry experience should be able to demonstrate their ability to act impartially and maintain public confidence.”

Acting CEO For Eight Months

The vacancy appears in the wake of an unprecedented turnover at the top of the Commission in one year. Rhodes’ resignation was announced on 9 February 2026, while he left on 30 April after being a boss for almost five years.

In February, the regulator announced plans to recruit an interim CEO. However, there were no appointments of that kind. Gardner has been fulfilling the duties of the CEO acting.

After leaving the regulator, Rhodes has joined the advisory firm Hawkbridge working in the gambling sector. Tim Miller, the executive director for policy and research, announced his resignation in June and opened his own consulting company. Neither of those resignations is reported to violate any regulation.

Stability was introduced on 30 September, when Ruth Evans took the place of the permanent chair after Marcus Boyle’s resignation in January 2025.

£26m Budget

Now there is a clearly scheduled budget from the Treasury. The financial forecast of the Commission for 2026 to 2027 shows £26 million for three years’ activities concerning illegal markets. The budget starts with £7 million now and increases to £9 million and to £10 million in 2028/29.

The budget exists separately from the government initiative, although it is connected with it. In the terms of reference of the taskforce, the Illegal Gambling Taskforce is led by DCMS and chaired by the gambling minister.

There have appeared other questions related to staffing. In May, the regulator advertised for the first dedicated head of illegal markets on £65,000; the position can be taken even part-time.

As for measuring the return, it is more difficult than expected, but not impossible. According to the market size research, the Commission has not yet estimated the size of the illegal market.

Tax, Size And A Warning, HMRC’s Warning Signs

The pressure in the commercial world is very real, and we all know it. HMRC’s policy paper on gambling duty confirms what we already knew: Remote Gaming Duty jumped from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026. As a result, a whopping 95 remote gaming businesses and 55 combined betting and gaming firms are facing a massive hike in their bills.

But it’s not just the increase in tax that’s causing concern. The same paper contains a line that rather awkwardly suggests HMRC has accepted that some players may decide to gamble on unlicensed sites instead of facing worse odds. The scale of the problem is massive; official figures show that gross gambling yield in Britain was £17.5 billion between April 2025 and March 2026. That’s a staggering amount, which includes all reported lotteries; without them, the total is £13.2 billion.

What’s Coming Up Next?

The timeline for getting the new head in place is now locked in; the recruitment schedule says virtual preliminary interviews kick in from 5 to 13 November, followed by assessments and due diligence in late November and early December. Then, a final face-to-face interview is set for 9 December. The person who gets the job had better be ready to get a Developed Vetting security clearance sorted; we’re talking about the Gambling Act 2005 here and how the Commission appoints its own boss with the Culture Secretary giving the thumbs up.

Expert Take: The Government Is Asking One Person To Take On A Fight They’re Partly Contributing To

We think this job advert tells two different stories that don’t quite fit together. There’s the one about ambition, measurable impact, a return for the Treasury and a new corporate strategy. And then there’s the one about restraint, the lowest pay band, a bit of a deficit and £8 million in required savings.

Our biggest worry comes from HMRC’s own paper; they raised the tax on remote gaming and then said they know some players may go to unlicensed sites instead. Now they’re asking the new head of the regulator to make a profit out of trying to take on that market. Both policies might make sense in their own right, but when you put them together, they just don’t seem to add up.

We also struggle to work out how the Commission is supposed to manage a £26 million programme on a budget of £65,000 a year for the person leading the day-to-day work. That doesn’t seem like a very good use of funds to us.

The impartiality clause in the job ad is a good idea; we agree with it. Still, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this year both senior people who left the Commission went off to work in the sector. The advert says a lot about how to get the job, but it doesn’t say anything about what happens when you leave.

If the timeline holds, the UK’s gambling regulator is going to be without a permanent boss for almost a whole year. And to date, nobody has been named as accountable for the mess.