UKGC names Ruth Evans as permanent chair

• Ruth Evans has been appointed permanent Chair of the UK Gambling Commission, ending a 20-month vacancy since Marcus Boyle’s departure.
• Evans, founder of Stop Scams UK, takes office on 30 September for a five-year term set by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
• She becomes the Commission’s first permanent Chair in almost two years, with a permanent chief executive still to be named.

The UK Gambling Commission has appointed Ruth Evans as its new permanent Chair, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) confirmed this week.

Evans, currently chair of Stop Scams UK, will take office on 30 September for a five-year term, ending a vacancy that began when Marcus Boyle stepped down as Chair in January 2025.

Fraud-fighting background

Evans founded Stop Scams UK in 2019, bringing together banks, technology firms and telecoms companies to combat payment fraud. She has also chaired the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and the Bar Standards Board, and spent nine years as a lay member of the General Medical Council.

Her record includes a period as non-executive director at the Serious Fraud Office. She also led the steering group behind a voluntary industry code, introduced in 2018, that compensates victims of authorised push payment fraud.

The DCMS credited her long-standing career in public protection and financial crime prevention as the basis for the appointment.

Filling a leadership gap

Boyle left the Chair role in January 2025, and Charles Counsell has served as interim Chair since February 2025, a stretch of more than 18 months. The Chair role pays £85,000 a year for a two-day-a-week commitment.

One senior vacancy remains open. Sarah Gardner continues as acting Chief Executive, with no permanent replacement yet confirmed.

The Commission has also brought in DCMS civil servant Sarah Fox on secondment to lead its policy, research and statistics functions and National Lottery regulation, covering part of the brief held by Tim Miller, executive director of policy and research, who is leaving the Commission this month after a decade in the role.

Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, 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.”

Reform pressure ahead

Evans arrives at a financially difficult moment for UK operators. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, and a new remote rate within General Betting Duty will take it from 15% to 25% from April 2027.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has separately announced plans to revoke the Gambling Act’s “aim to permit” principle for betting shop and gaming centre licensing, targeting implementation from early 2027 pending a fast-track consultation.

Enforcement activity has continued in parallel: the regulator reached a £609,104 settlement with QuinnBet last month, reminded operators of their identity check duties, and published terms of reference for its Illegal Gambling Taskforce earlier this year.

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 continued:

“Throughout my career in consumer protection, I have seen that the best outcomes are achieved through effective collaboration between regulators, industry and the technology sector.”

Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, which named its own new chair, Kane Purdy, earlier this year, welcomed the appointment. She said:

“The BGC looks forward to working constructively with Ruth, the gambling commission and government as regulatory reforms continue to be implemented across the sector.”

Evans’s early priorities will test how far that collaboration can go. The Commission still needs a permanent Chief Executive, operators are absorbing sharply higher duty rates, and the planned repeal of “aim to permit” could reshape licensing well beyond her own remit. Balancing those pressures will likely define the opening stretch of her term.