Report
Annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024
The Gambling Commission's 2023 to 2024 Annual report and accounts. For the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Directors’ report - Board of Commissioners
The Gambling Commission is made up of non-executive Commissioners, appointed by the Secretary of State, and led by a Chair. The Commission’s key decision-making body is the Board of Commissioners. Details of the Chair and Commissioners for 2023 to 2024, including their declared interests, are detailed accordingly.
Recruitment for 6 new Commissioner posts was opened in January 2023 and appointments were made in September 2023. Carol Brady and Trevor Pearce left the Commission within the 2023 to 2024 year.
The Commission is managed by the Executive Team, led by the Chief Executive. Executive Team meetings are the key management decision-making body. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was appointed a Commissioner in July 2023. Details of the CEO and Executive Team for 2023 to 2024, including their declared interests, can be found in this section.
Board of Commissioners
One Commissioner (Carol Brady) resigned in July 2023 and another Commissioner (Trevor Pearce) resigned in December 2023. Two Commissioners (Catharine Seddon and John Baillie) resigned in April 2024. Seven new Commissioners were appointed in September 2023. One of whom (David Rossington), was appointed as a full time Board member, whereas previously he was an interim Board member.
Marcus Boyle
Chair
Marcus was appointed Chair of the Commission on 5 September 2021 for a term of 5 years.
Marcus has held senior leadership roles in public and private sector bodies.
In addition to chairing the Commission, he is also a Non-Executive Board Member of the Cabinet Office, Chair of The Room Group Limited, Partner in Freston Ventures, and a Trustee of the Serpentine Gallery.
Previously, he has been an equity partner for two leading global professional services firms and chaired the British American Drama Academy.
Catharine Seddon
Senior Independent Director (Commissioner term ended on 10 April 2024)
Catharine brings experience of regulation in a wide variety of sectors as well as media knowledge.
Catharine spent 20 years as a filmmaker before taking up public non-executive roles. She started as a graduate trainee producer with the BBC and soon specialised in high-end film documentaries, eventually setting up her own production company.
She became a magistrate in 2000 and later left television to take up a variety of other judicial roles in the Courts and Tribunals Service, to become a member of the Human Tissue Authority, to sit on the Determinations Panel of The Pensions Regulator and on the Legal Services Board (LSB).
Catharine is now the deputy chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the Senior Independent Director for the Personal Finance Society and a board member of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CafCass). She is a tutor for the Civil Service College and has recently joined the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). Catharine is also a trustee for special needs charity CPotential.
Charles Counsell
Commissioner – appointed September 2023
Charles has been a Board member of Government Arm’s-Length Bodies since 2011, first as Executive Director of Automatic Enrolment (AE) at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), then as Chief Executive of the Money Advice Service (MAS) and then as Chief Executive of The Pensions Regulator (TPR).
Throughout his career, his roles have focused on setting up and delivering large change programmes requiring significant stakeholder relationship engagement: initially in the private sector (23 years, including 17 as a consultant) and latterly (12 years) in senior public sector appointments.
Alongside Charles’ role at the Commission, he is also a non-executive member of Scottish Widows pensions Independent Governance Committee.
Claudia Mortimore
Commissioner – appointed September 2023
Claudia brings over 25 years’ experience of criminal law and regulation to her role as a Gambling Commissioner.
She spent the first 10 years of her career working as a barrister then, after a career break to raise three children, prosecuted drugs, tax and money-laundering offences for the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office and fraudulent trading offences for the Department for Business and Trade.
Since 2013, Claudia has worked in senior positions in the Enforcement Division of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the body which regulates accountants, auditors and actuaries in the public interest and which sets the UK Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes.
During her time at the FRC, Claudia has led major investigations into serious and complex audit and accountancy failures. Since 2017 she has been a key member of the Enforcement Division’s Senior Leadership Team, which has steered the Division through a period of significant change and growth.
Claudia has a particular interest in Diversity and Inclusion and has also played a key role in promoting the importance of mental health and well-being at the FRC.
David Rossington
Commissioner – appointed interim January 2023 becoming substantive September 2023
David is a former senior civil servant. He has worked for the DCMS, including as Finance Director, and other Government departments, and has extensive knowledge of gambling policy and the National Lottery.
David has been a member of many Boards over a number of years and has undertaken a wide range of work on policy, finance and efficiency, and commercial and delivery.
Since stopping full time work, he has assisted the Commission as an independent member of the Programme Board for the 4NL Programme, formally the National Lottery Competition Committee, and is also deputy chair of the Advisory Committee on National Records and Archives, which works with The National Archives. He is Treasurer of a charity for veterans (Stoll), and an Oxford community arts charity (Arts at the Old Fire Station).
David holds a degree in History and French from Oxford, a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School, Harvard University, and an Economics MSc from Birkbeck College, London. David took an accountancy qualification while a civil servant, although is no longer in practice.
John Baillie
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee (Commissioner term ended on 10 April 2024)
John Baillie is a Chartered Accountant and a former partner of a Big Four firm in Scotland and then London.
He is a past chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, the Scottish local authority watchdog, and served two three-year terms. He was also Chair of Audit Scotland, the Scottish equivalent of the National Audit Office.
He was a member of the Reporting Panel of the UK Competition and Markets Authority for nine years.
John was professor of finance and accountancy at the University of Glasgow. He was also a visiting professor of accountancy at University of Edinburgh and has held similar appointments at other Scottish universities.
Helen Dodds – appointed September 2023
Chair of the National Lottery Committee
Helen Dodds is an international lawyer, consultant and board member. She is currently a board member of the Human Tissue Authority, a director and trustee of the St John’s Eye Hospital Group, a director of LegalUK, and an Honorary Senior Fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
Prior to this, she was a board member of the London Court of International Arbitration. She is a qualified (now non-practising) solicitor and in her executive career she was for many years Global Head of Legal, Dispute Resolution at Standard Chartered Bank. She has a degree in Modern History from Oxford University.
Helen Phillips – appointed September 2023
Commissioner
Helen is a former front-line regulator, having held senior roles at the Environment Agency from where she was recruited to be the founding Chief Executive of Natural England. Helen is also a former board member of a large, regulated organisation in the water industry.
Since moving to non-executive work in 2015, Helen has chaired the Legal Services Board, the oversight regulator of lawyers in England and Wales, until 2023, was a founding board member until 2021 of Social Work England, the regulator of social workers in England, and has also chaired Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2015 to 2024.
Helen’s current non-executive portfolio of roles reflects her continuing interest in professional standards and healthcare. She currently chairs the Chartered Insurance Institute, the standards body for general insurance and financial planning professionals, and in 2023 was appointed Chair of NHS Professionals Ltd, the staff bank that provides 120,000 professionals to the NHS.
Lloydette Bai-Marrow – appointed September 2023
Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Lloydette Bai-Marrow is an anti-corruption expert and economic crime lawyer, specialising in corporate compliance and investigations. She is the Founding Partner of Parametric Global Consulting, a corporate investigations consultancy.
She worked as a senior prosecutor in various UK government departments, including the Serious Fraud Office. Lloydette chairs the Board of Spotlight on Corruption, a UK-based anti-corruption charity, and serves as a trustee for the Unite Foundation. She sits on the Legal Panel for WhistleblowersUK.
She is a Senior Visiting Lecturer at the International Anti-Corruption Academy and a member of the Conduct Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
She is a Co-Founder and Director of the Black Women in Leadership Network (BWIL), a non-profit network committed to increasing the representation of black women in leadership and decision-making positions.
She also serves as an Associate Non-executive Director for an NHS Mental Health Trust in London.
Sheree Howard – appointed September 2023
Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
Sheree is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and has over 25 years' experience in the UK financial services industry, both in insurance and banking. Initially following the established actuarial path of working in a life assurance company, Sheree saw the opportunity to transfer the risk focus of her actuarial training into general insurance with senior roles in underwriting and pricing, establishing corporate actuarial functions, finance and capital and risk management.
After a period in insurance and banking in areas of risk and compliance, Sheree joined the Financial Conduct Authority in 2017 and, having been the Executive Director of Risk and Compliance Oversight for a number of years, is now the Executive Director of Authorisations.
She brings experience and knowledge of the process of regulation, alongside a key focus on risk management, audit and controls.
She has been a Governor, including Chair, for more than 10 years of a maintained Special Needs School, and has provided pro bono advice to several other charities. In addition she is a Trustee of the school funds charity.
Stephen Cohen
Chair of the National Lottery Competition Committee (up to 19 March 2024)
Stephen has over 40 years’ experience in asset management in Asia, Europe and the USA. He has worked as a portfolio manager, in business development, operations and in IT. Stephen is the Chair of the JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust plc, a Commissioner at the Civil Service Commission and Chair of Audit for both the Advanced Research Invention Agency and the Schroders Capital Global Innovations Trust plc. Stephen brings a global business perspective, deep experience of finance, investment, corporate strategy and corporate governance.
Carol Brady
Commissioner (term ended on 31 July 2023)
Trevor Pearce CBE QPM
Chair of the National Lottery Committee, Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee (term ended 31 December 2023)
Last updated: 17 October 2024
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