Gambling Commission and National Lottery to merge next week
National Lottery Commission to be dissolved following completion of 1 October merger of UK regulatory bodies
The UK Gambling Commission (GC) and the National Lottery Commission (NC) are set to merge on 1 October following approval from governmental authorities.
The Public Bodies (Merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission) Order 2013 will result in the abolition of the lottery regulator and the transfer of its powers and functions to the Gambling Commission. Philip Graf will chair the new body and Jenny Williams will remain as chief executive.
Speaking with eGaming Review this morning, a spokesperson for the UK Gambling Commission said the merger is a result of the Government’s attempts to increase accountability and reduce the size and cost of public bodies.
“The merger resulted from the government’s programme of rationalisation of non-departmental public sector bodies and the National Lottery regulator has been sharing our Birmingham offices and other back office services such as HR since January 2012,” he said.
The merger goes ahead despite significant scrutiny from the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) following a number of objections from egaming operators, industry associations and foreign regulatory authorities.
In April a report from the DCMS outlined concerns of the two regulatory bodies being “incompatible” and warned of a potential “conflict of interest”.