Betting and Gaming Council welcomes new CEO, Grainne Hurst

Grainne Hurst, formerly a senior director at Entain, has taken up her new role as CEO of the BGC. 

Looking forward to the challenge

Hurst, whilst acknowledging some of the challenges ahead, is clearly keen to get stuck into the role: 

“I’m absolutely delighted to get started as CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, the industry champion for so many iconic brands, at home in the UK and around the world. This is a crucial time for the BGC’s diverse and growing membership, which supports 110,000 jobs, and caters to millions of customers who enjoy a bet each month.”

White Paper

Not surprisingly, Hurst flagged the White Paper as a key priority on the journey ahead:

“There is a huge amount of work ahead of us, not least delivering and implementing the outstanding proposals outlined in last year’s White Paper, many of which our members called for. That includes a statutory levy to address problem gambling and related harms, an Ombudsman for improved consumer redress, online financial risk checks carefully targeted on those at risk, new stake limits for online slots, a Sports Sponsorship Code, plus mission critical modernisation proposals for the land-based casino sector." 

Stability

The White paper isn't the only thing on Hurst's radar:

"While achieving regulatory certainty after a period of so much change is top of my priority list, it is important for our industry to focus on stability, growth and diversity across the sector.” 

New Chair as well as new CEO

Hurst paid tribute to outgoing CEO, Michael Dugher who now becomes Chair of the organisation. 

“My huge thanks go to Michael Dugher for his amazing work so far getting the BGC to where it is today, I’m really looking forward to working alongside Michael in his new role as BGC Chair.

Hurst comes with an impressive pedigree. In addition to her 6 years as Group Corporate Affairs Director at Entain she was previously a special advisor to the UK government

Vital time for the industry

It’s a big role with a myriad of short, medium and long-term challenges. The industry, forever under scrutiny, contributes over £7bn to the UK economy via just over 20m punters facilitated by 100,000+ employees each month. Interesting times ahead.