UKGC looks to long-term stability as Andrew Rhodes named permanent CEO

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has confirmed the appointment of Andrew Rhodes to the position of permanent CEO, just ahead of the long-awaited publication of the review into the 2005 UK Gambling Act.

Rhodes was named as the interim CEO in June 2021 following the departure of long-standing UKGC CEO Neil MacArthur in March 2021, while the regulator looked for a permanent replacement. He will now work with newly appointed UKGC chairman Marcus Boyle on shaping the future of the UK regulator.

Media reports in January had suggested that Rhodes would be named to the role permanently.

An experienced civil servant, Rhodes has held several senior roles in both the private and public sectors over the last 20 years, including at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

Rhodes will continue to combine this role with his other role as the chair of the Swansea City Foundation, the charitable arm of Swansea City FC, a position he has held since August 2021.

During his interim tenure, Rhodes has taken a very hard-line stance towards operators, promising to crackdown on “recidivist” behaviours amongst firms in November as well as taking sterner action against operators for repeated violations of licensing conditions.

Much of his other work during his time as interim CEO has been on preparing the regulator for the publication of the white paper review into the 2005 UK Gambling Act, which is widely expected to take place in June, after a significant delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The UKGC has also, in this time, published a new set of rules for high-risk customers, which includes the banning of all marketing materials being sent to them. These rules will take effect in September this year, following a final consultation in June.

The review is expected to see a potential reframing of the UKGC’s roles and responsibilities after mounting criticism of the regulator in a number of high profile actions related to operators.

In October, Rhodes defended the conduct of the UKGC in awarding a UK licence to the now-defunct Football Index business, which collapsed into administration in March 2021 leaving thousands of punters out of pocket and facing huge losses.

The UKGC had been accused of licensing a product it did not understand and that it was giving a licence to a Ponzi scheme. Rhodes refuted these claims saying that “a company collapsing with money lost does not automatically make that a Ponzi scheme

The regulator has also historically drawn criticism from the Betting and Gaming Council for not doing enough to prevent the rise of the black market in the UK and gambling-related harm prevention advocacy groups, which have suggested that it does not go far enough in prosecuting operators while at the same time protecting at risk consumers.