GB regulator begins search for new chief executive

Great Britain’s gambling regulator has begun the search for a new chief executive following the news that Jenny Williams will step down from the role next year.

Gambling Commission chairman Philip Graf wrote to industry trade bodies today to alert them of the news and said that a new CEO would be in place early in the next financial year.

Graf wrote that Williams, who became the chief executive of the Gaming Board ““ now the Gambling Commission ““ in 2004, would be a “hard act to follow”.

Her statutory term as a commissioner ends September 2015 and she will remain with the organisation while a full and thorough handover is completed.

In recent months she has overseen the implementation of Britain’s new licensing regime, culminating in some 161 applications for continuation licences being submitted last week.

The Gambling (Advertising and Licensing) Bill, which includes a shift to a point of consumption-based tax regime, was first introduced more than four years ago and will come into law in December.

Prior to joining the Gambling Commission Williams was a director general at the Department for Justice and held a variety of policy and project management posts in the Inland Revenue, the Departments of Environment and Transport and the Home Office.

Recruitment firm Gatenby Sanderson has been appointed to help find Williams’ successor.