Ruth Evans takes office as UK Gambling Commission Chair

Ruth Evans begins a five-year term as Chair of the UK Gambling Commission on 30 September 2026. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced the appointment on 7 September 2026. She is the Commission's first permanent chair since Marcus Boyle left in January 2025.

The Rt Hon Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, made the appointment under the Gambling Act 2005. Evans succeeds Charles Counsell OBE, who served as Interim Chair after Boyle's departure.

Who she is, and what the role pays

GOV.UK's biographical notes place Evans in consumer protection and fraud prevention. She chairs Stop Scams UK. She has been Chair of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, a Non-Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office, and the first Chair of the Bar Standards Board.

Remuneration, per GOV.UK notes to editors, is £85,000 a year for about two days per week.

Same day as deposit-limit rules — different story

30 September is also the calendar day for the Commission's gross deposit-limit RTS phase two. That rule set was already scheduled. Bonusjungle covered it separately in UKGC deposit limits from 30 September 2026. This piece is about the chair, not a rebuild of that limit maths. The appointment and the deposit-limit phase share a calendar date; they are separate Commission stories.

Why it matters for vault readers

GB-facing readers get a named permanent chair after a stretch of interim leadership. Day-to-day licence decisions and player-facing tools still sit with the Commission's published framework, not with a biography. 18+. If gambling stops being fun, see responsible play. Recent Commission enforcement on tip includes Manchester illegal-gambling raids and the Targetlocal remote-licence suspension.