Something called the Gambling Policy Commission suddenly appeared this week, with the announcement that it will be launching "an independent review of UK gambling laws and regulations".
NEW: A group of leading economists and experts has today launched an independent review of UK gambling laws and regulations, alongside an open call for evidence. The Gambling Policy Commission comes over 20 years after the publication of the Budd Report and the introduction of the 2005 Gambling Act. It is comprised of former advisers to the Bank of England, HM Treasury, the Independent Football Regulator and the Social Mobility Commission. Read more: https://t.co/aFkADHlv48
— Gambling Policy Commission (@gampolcom) November 9, 2026
Seed funding for the Gambling Policy Commission has been philanthropically provided by Derek Webb.
Members of the Commission have been drawn from a range of backgrounds, including economics, law, public policy, health, academia and sport. They are: Philippe Auclair, Professor Chris Bojke, Peter Kellner CBE, Professor Lindsey Macmillan, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Dr James Noyes, Professor Janet O’Sullivan and Thomas Savill.
The group is chaired by Jagjit Chadha OBE, professor of economics at the University of Cambridge. James Reade, professor of economics at the University of Reading, is serving as the Commission’s chief economist.
Chadha, Savil and Noyes are all directors of the similarly named Gambling Policy Committee, a limited company set up in March to manage the money which, by the look of it, will all be coming from the ubiquitous Mr Webb.
The Guardian's racing correspondent Greg Wood has written about the GPC, treating it as a quasi-official organisation and not mentioning Webb's involvement. He urges the racing industry to participate in it. This strikes me as bad advice. The anti-gambling lobby cannot be appeased or bargained with. No one can stop Webb from having his little show trial but consumers and the industry should be wary of giving it legitimacy and credibility by participating. It will not have any bearing on the GPC's conclusions, which inevitably be to ban, ban and ban. It will just allow them to say that consumers and industry were heard during the process.
In 2017, the parliamentary commissioner for standards rebuked the APPG on FOBTs for trying to pass off a self-published report as an official House of Commons publication. The bookmakers were invited to take part in that charade but wisely refused, describing it as a "kangaroo court". A cordon sanitaire around Webb's latest venture would also be sensible.
