Ruth Evans takes the Gambling Commission chair after 20-month gap

The consumer protection specialist takes over on 30 September, closing almost 20 months in which the regulator has run with an interim chair.

Britain’s gambling regulator has spent most of the past two years with temporary appointments in its two most senior posts. On 7 September 2026, the government named Ruth Evans as chair of the Gambling Commission, on a five-year term beginning 30 September.

Nandy appoints Evans and thanks the outgoing interim chair

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy made the appointment. Under the Gambling Act 2005 the chair is chosen by the Secretary of State rather than by the Commission itself. 

Nandy said:

‘I am pleased to announce Ruth Evans as the incoming chair of the Gambling Commission. She becomes Chair at this incredibly important time, supporting a sustainable, thriving industry with the essential protections needed to prevent harm.’

She also thanked Charles Counsell OBE for leading the Commission since February 2025: ‘He has been a passionate and diligent Chair, and we owe him our gratitude.’

A consumer protection background, not a gambling one

Evans chairs Stop Scams UK, which brings together banks, technology companies and telecoms firms. Her career runs across four decades of regulatory and consumer work. She chaired the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, was the first chair of the Bar Standards Board, spent nine years as a lay member of the General Medical Council chairing its Standards and Ethics Committee, and was a non-executive director of the Serious Fraud Office. In 2018 she chaired the steering group behind the voluntary industry code that reimburses victims of authorised push payment bank transfer scams. She has recently been appointed chair of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board.

None of that is gambling experience, and the job advert did not ask for any. The DCMS campaign for the role stated that the successful candidate did not need to have worked directly in the gambling industry or in organisations tackling gambling harm, but did need to command the confidence of licensees while staying visibly independent of them.

Incoming Chair of the Gambling Commission, Ruth Evans, said:

‘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.’ 

She added that her career in consumer protection had shown her that ‘the best outcomes are achieved through effective collaboration between regulators, industry and the technology sector’. 

She also pointed to online safety for UK citizens, and to combining proportionate regulation with partnership and shared responsibility.

Two competitions and a long interim

Marcus Boyle left the chair on 31 January 2025. Charles Counsell was appointed interim chair for a nine-month term from 1 February 2025. By the time he hands over on 30 September, he will have held the post for just under 20 months, more than twice the period originally set out.

DCMS ran two competitions to fill the job. 

• The first opened on 17 April 2025, closed to applications on 4 June and scheduled interviews to finish by 25 July 2025, advertising a four-year term. 
• The second opened on 30 January 2026, closed on 1 May and expected interviews to end on 16 July, this time advertising a five-year term.

The department has not published why the first competition did not produce an appointment. 

However, pay for the post rose between the two competitions. The 2025 advert offered £59,950 a year for two days a week on a four-year term. When the job was readvertised, in January 2026, the same two-day commitment was listed at £85,000, an increase of £25,050, and the term had been extended to five years. Boyle’s appointment in 2021 carried a salary of £55,000. 

The chief executive’s office is still covered temporarily

Evans arrives at a regulator that is still short of permanent senior staff. 

Andrew Rhodes left as chief executive on 30 April 2026 after almost five years, and deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner stepped up to cover. The Commission’s executive team page still lists her as acting chief executive. The board said in February that it would recruit a chief executive for an interim period.

Policy and research have seen similar churn. Tim Miller confirmed in June that he would leave in September after 10 years, and Sarah Fox joined on secondment from DCMS to pick up much of that brief. 

Evans is the first of the regulator’s senior vacancies to be filled on a permanent basis.

Charles Counsell OBE, Interim Chair, Gambling Commission, said:

‘Ruth’s regulatory and consumer experience will be invaluable to the Board as we continue our work to make gambling safer, fairer and crime-free.’

He added that Evans’s role would be ‘pivotal in the years ahead’ as the Commission develops a new strategy, steps up its work against illegal gambling and completes its part of the Gambling Act Review.

The work waiting for her is set out in the recruitment pack: engaging with DCMS on gambling reform, evaluating consumer protection measures already introduced, tackling money laundering and illegal gambling, overseeing the fourth National Lottery licence, and, in the department’s own words, leading the board at a time of significant scrutiny.

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