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# Ruth Evans Appointed Chair of the UK Gambling Commission
- URL: https://www.igamingnews.biz/ruth-evans-gambling-commission-chair/
- Published: 2026-09-08T08:25:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-08T08:27:38.000Z
- Description: Ruth Evans, founder of Stop Scams UK, is named Chair of the UK Gambling Commission from 30 September, ending a 20 month gap since Marcus Boyle's exit.
- Author: iGamingNews Editorial Desk
- Tags: Regulation, UK, Gambling Commission

*Image credit: Illustration, iGamingNews Editorial Desk.*

**Ruth Evans, founder of Stop Scams UK, has been appointed Chair of the Gambling Commission, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced on 7 September 2026.** She starts on 30 September for a five year term, closing a 20 month gap since predecessor Marcus Boyle left the role in January 2025.

Charles Counsell OBE has run the board as Interim Chair since 1 February 2025, a job first billed as a nine month bridge that stretched to 20 months. The Commission thanked him for providing "stability for the organisation during an important period" as he hands over.

Evans arrives with no background in gambling regulation. She founded and chairs Stop Scams UK, the cross-industry group uniting banks, telecoms and tech firms against payment fraud, launched in 2019\. Her record includes chairing the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the first chair of the Bar Standards Board, nine years as a General Medical Council lay member chairing its Standards and Ethics Committee, and a term as non-executive director at the Serious Fraud Office. She becomes the first woman to chair the Commission since it took on full regulatory responsibility for gambling in 2007\. The role pays £85,000 a year for a two day a week commitment, filled through DCMS's standard public appointments process.

"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. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Evans "becomes Chair at this incredibly important time, supporting a sustainable, thriving industry with the essential protections needed to prevent harm." Counsell called it a pleasure to "welcome Ruth as the new Chair of the Gambling Commission."

Evans steps into a leadership bench still short a permanent chief executive. Sarah Gardner has been Acting Chief Executive since Andrew Rhodes departed in April 2026, and the Commission brought [Sarah Fox onto its Executive Team](https://www.igamingnews.biz/sarah-fox-gambling-commission/) on secondment from DCMS in July 2026 to run policy, research and National Lottery oversight. She now chairs a board still running the [Commission's illegal market strategy](https://www.igamingnews.biz/ukgc-illegal-market-disruption-strategy/) and bedding in [financial risk checks on operators](https://www.igamingnews.biz/financial-risk-checks-uk-bettors-explained/), the kind of continuity bet UK operators watched land this year when [Rank Group confirmed Richard Harris as permanent CEO](https://www.igamingnews.biz/rank-group-richard-harris-permanent-ceo/).

## The chair is settled, the chief executive still isn't

Evans's five year term gives operators a fixed board-level contact after 20 months of interim leadership there. It does not fill the Commission's other vacancy. Whoever succeeds Rhodes as Chief Executive will report to a Chair with no gambling-sector background but a long record building regulatory and consumer-protection bodies from scratch.