UK GAMBLING COMMISSION REAPPOINTS COMMISSIONERS

21 December 2007

Four year appointments confirmed by Department of Culture, Media and Sport


The controlling body for all British gambling, the Gambling Commission has announced that it is to retain the services of Eve Salomon, Ben Gunn, Gill Milburn and Bill Knight as Commissioners, following confirmation of their re-appointment by the UK minister for sport, Gerry Sutcliffe.

The second term for the Commissioners will be for four years from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2011.

Eve Salomon is a regulatory and public affairs consultant, and a director of Salomon Whittle Ltd, a company specialising in media-related matters both in the UK and internationally. She is also a member of the Better Regulation Commission and of the Press Complaints Commission.

Ben Gunn was Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire from 1993 to 2002 having previously served in the Metropolitan Police for 28 years. He is senior partner in Campbell Gunn Associates, a firm of Management Consultants. He was the independent chairman of the joint Jockey Club/British Horseracing Board Security Review which examined integrity issues in horseracing in Great Britain in 2003 and is currently an independent regulatory director of the British Horseracing Authority. Mr Gunn is also security advisor to the National Trust and a trustee and former chairman of the Child Victims of Crime Charity.

Gill Milburn had a career in taxation and marketing prior to joining the Gaming Board (now the Gambling Commission). She is a Magistrate and has served on Cheshire Magistrates Court's Youth, Licensing and Enforcement Panels. Mrs Milburn works with North West Ark, a programme to settle and rehabilitate drug offenders.

Bill Knight is a solicitor. He is Chairman of the Financial Reporting Review Panel and Deputy Chairman of Lloyd's Council. He is a former Chairman of the Enforcement Committee of the General Insurance Standards Council and of the Law Society's Company Law Committee.

The Gambling Act 2005 implements the British government’s proposals for the reform of the law on gambling and provides the basis for a new, improved and more comprehensive regulatory structure to govern the provision of almost all commercial gambling in Great Britain.

The Act places social responsibility at the heart of a system which includes a new structure for the provision of protections for children and vulnerable adults and, in particular, brings the burgeoning Internet gaming sector within British regulation for the first time.
The Commission was established on 1st October 2005 as a new, apolitical and independent regulatory body, and has three overiding priorities:

1. to keep gambling free from crime;
2. to ensure that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and
3. to protect children and the vulnerable from harm.

Commissioners are paid GBP 282 per day plus reasonable travel and subsistence expenses.

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