Gambling Commission names Lord Chadlington on chairman shortlist
The campaigning Lord Chadlington is among four names on the shortlist for chairman of the British Gambling Commission.
UK.- The Gambling Commission has published a shortlist of possible names to fill the empty chairman position at the British regulator.
The names being considered are Lord Chadlington (Peter Selwyn Gummer), ex-Deloitte board member Marcus Boyle and Anna van der Gaag, chair of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board. A fourth name has not been confirmed but is believed to be an internal candidate.
Lord Chadlington is a PR advisor and Conservative Party donor who has previously campaigned to heighten safer gambling protection.
Through his charity Action Against Gambling Harms (AAGH), he played an instrumental role in persuading the five largest gambling operators in Britain (Entain, Flutter, bet365, Sky Bet and William Hill) to commit to giving 1 per cent of gross gambling yield to gambling research education and treatment (RET) programmes.
Chadlington’s charity competed against GambleAware for the responsibility of managing those funds, with the decision in favour of GambleAware causing a disagreement in parliament.
Marcus Boyle, another name on the shortlist, is chairman of the British American Drama Academy. He retired from Deloitte last year. Anna van der Gaag is a speech and language therapist and an academic specialising in ethics. She became chair of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board in 2019.
The final decision on the new chair to replace Bill Moyes will be made by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
One of the new chair’s first responsibilities will be to recruit a new chief executive after the surprise resignation of Neil McArthur following the collapse of Football Index in March.
The Gambling Commission’s deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner and chief operating officer Sally Jones initially stepped up as joint acting interim chief executive to fill the void. Andrew Rhodes replaced them in June on an 18-month contract.
It’s a crucial time for the Gambling Commission, with the DCMS’s ongoing review into British gambling legislation expected to make recommendations for changes in the way gambling is regulated in the country. It is also being investigated as part of the government inquiry into Football Index’s collapse.
The regulator is also overseeing the licence competition for the next National Lottery licence. Last week, it announced that it was postponing its decision on tender for the 10-year licence until February 2021. It also extended Camelot’s current licence for the lottery to February 2024 to allow time for a smooth transition.
