Sarah Gardner has dedicated nearly 17 years to the Gambling Commission, taking on various roles within the organization. Her commitment is fueled by the complex challenges that the gambling sector continually presents.
In a recent conversation with GGB, Gardner noted, "From a regulatory standpoint, it’s a really interesting sector because you’re really trying to strike the right balance between enabling people to enjoy what they enjoy doing in their leisure time, while making sure there are protections for those that need it.
"It’s why I’ve never left. [In this time] I’ve done most of the jobs actually around the senior table at the Commission."
Currently, she serves as the interim CEO, stepping in after Andrew Rhodes, the former chief, left the position in February. This year has seen notable shifts within the Commission’s leadership, including the announcement in June by director of policy Tim Miller that he would also be departing.
At iGB Live in July, Miller reminisced about his decade-long tenure with the Commission. Amid these changes, some of Miller's responsibilities will be taken over by Sarah Fox, who is joining from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in September.
Despite the ongoing transitions, Gardner humorously refers to herself as a "Gambling Commission lifer."
"The Commission’s proved quite difficult to leave. I think there is always a new challenge. Someone once described it to me as gambling regulation being utterly seductive. And I’m not sure I get that far, but it certainly keeps you really interested," she said.
Gardner aims to promote a more creative approach within the organization, steering away from relying solely on straightforward regulatory measures.
However, her tenure has not been without hurdles, especially in light of criticisms regarding specific updates to the white paper and the review of the Gambling Act 2005.
"Regulation can be a pretty thankless task because you can never please all the people. I can’t think of any announcement I’ve ever made where I haven’t had one half of the debate saying: ‘oh that doesn’t go far enough’. And the other half saying: ‘oh, it might go too far.’ That can actually be a bit of an indicator that you’re broadly in the right place," Gardner explained.
A particularly contentious topic has been the Commission's stance on affordability checks or financial risk assessments (FRAs).
In 2025, a pilot study identified high-spending players across several top-tier operators who required additional credit checks from independent agencies. The Commission postponed its announcement regarding these measures this year but confirmed in July that FRAs would be introduced formally in phases. This decision has faced criticism from various sectors, including horse racing and politics.
"What we’re currently doing on financial risk assessments, controversial though that it is, is a really good example of striking a balance [between player enjoyment and consumer protection] because that is about finding a more sophisticated way than currently exists to hone in on the consumers who actually need the support," Gardner remarked.
"So you don’t have to ask a much larger sample of consumers for [additional] documents, which strikes me as frankly too intrusive for what’s meant to be a leisure activity."
