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Former Inten executive, Grianne Hurst, has begun her tenure as the new chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, succeeding Michael Dugger. An expert in public affairs and corporate responsibilities, how will Hurst represent and guide the UK gambling through the concluding phase of the UK gambling review? Hurst maintains that the BGC will prioritize stability Growth and diversity to govern gambling as outstanding regulatory settlements are to be concluded on the framework of the Consumer Ombudsman and the RET levy requiring the BGC's input. Furthermore, as the subsequent leader of the BGC, how will Hearst reshape the trade body's future vision and values beyond the gambling review to maintain trust and stability with all stakeholders? I'm your host for today, Victor Kayed, and I'm joined by SBC media content director Ted Manmur to go over the latest developments. But before that, a message from our sponsor OptiMove, the number one CRM marketing solution for the iGaming market. As a special offer, OptiMove is giving away a free first month to new clients. For more information and to claim the offer, go to OptiMove.com slash SBC. Links will also be left in the podcast episode description below. So Titz, hello, nice to have you here with me today. How are you doing? Very well, Victor. How are you? I'm all right. I'm looking forward to discussing what we have to talk about today. So going straight into my first question, 2024 has been a year of leadership changes at the BGC. Can you recount them for the audiences? Okay. So let's track back to the start of the year, the Medigame Council announced the departure of Brigitte Simmons. as inaugural chair of the trade body for UK gambling. The decision saw CEO Michael Duga take the role of chair as the trade body expected 2024 to be the year the gambling review resolutions are finally settled on. Last April, the BGC announced the appointment of Creanne Hurst as the standout candidate take over the role of CEO. And coming into 2025, the BGC will celebrate its fifth anniversary. having replaced the functions of the remote gambling association, the RGA, and the Association of British Bookmakers, ABB, in 2022 as the unified trade body for UK gambling. 2020, of course, was the year that the government initiated the gambling review. To summarize, it's been a long haul for the BGC since then. And in some ways, the appointment of Hearst. is needed to give the BGC kind of a post-review vision and refresh. Her movements are being kind of observed very closely. And she has previously, she comes from Roe Ed Entain. She was a group corporate affairs director there. And also she, while she was there, she launched the sustainability project which invested a total of 100 million pounds of ECG, ESG initiatives. Can you tell us why she is a standout candidate for the BGC? Will Barron Okay. So as you mentioned, Grianne Hurst is a former Group Corporate Affairs Director of Entain PLC and of distinction during her tenure, I think it was five or six years tenure at Entain. She established the Global Foundation Program, generating 100 million in environmental, social and governance directives across the footsie operators, active markets, right? We're talking about Africa, New Zealand, South America, the US. She's also been a figurehead in promoting diversity, inclusion and equality directives in the industry as a board member of the Women in Gaming. But I think what makes her kind of a stand out for the BGC is just a deep experience in corporate governance and public affairs and government policies. Prior to joining the industry, she served as a special advisor to the government. I think she advised the MP Philip Davis and she served as a public affairs lead for ASDA. of significance is that she knows kind of the inner workings of parliament, how MPs, what MPs are kind of factoring in when they're legislating new rules or industry directives. And I think the PGC kind of recognizes that it needs kind of a new or a fresh face to 110,000 jobs and one that generates 4.2 billion in tax. And as we've covered before, and as it's pretty clear, Hearst takes over from Michael Liger, who did not shy away from a political debate, especially when it comes to the gambling review. I guess being outspoken in support of industry is kind of a given when you're the CEO of the BGC. But do you think Hearst's appointment will be? point the BGC in a new direction, less politically focused than Duggar's tenure? Well, I think that in answer to this question, we have to reflect the journey of the BGC and how its remit has evolved from its foundation in 2020. You're right, as a CEO, Conor Duggar had really had to stand up and fight for the industry's corner. I believe that, and in a lot of times, he did not have the support from PSC leadership. Maybe that's a place where Hearst would want to look at. Dugu even admitted that he did not expect the role of CEO to be this politicized. One thing to consider is that UK gambling has changed wholesale since 2020. You can even look at the changes of the UK Gamma Commission under the leadership of Andrew Rhodes. He too admitted that he did not expect gambling to be this politicized. A dynamic that is often forgotten is that the BGC is a young trade body and it's representing gambling at a point of inflection and a point of rupture with deep changes in the makeup of the sector, both regulatory and commercially. However, since 2020, it's become a much slicker organization. I think that Crean will have much deeper resources than Duga had available. Taking on the leadership, what are the remaining white paper settlements of the Gamling Review and can the BGC have any real input? Yes, yes it can. This is going to be the real test for HRSA's leadership on how Gamling operators respond to upcoming changes. As we all know, look, the affordability tests we all know are undertaking their pilots and they're being observed by operators with the majority already coordinating changes. The remaining duties that the BGC can influence is the framework of the RET levy in which supporting said parties needs to be maintained and also their funding. What has to be taken into account is that on the RET levy, the industry must really be careful of what gets modified. The framework has worked. It's got support to vulnerable players. If we then move on to the consumer ombudsman. I think this is going to be technique very hard to implement and will require a lot of cross coordination between UK operators of all sizes. The final segment and one that's been left out of the Gamma Review's white paper is that the BGC has to renegotiate the UK Racing's levy terms with the British Horse Racing Association. So what gets funded through to UK Racing from betting wages. Again, it's a political role. and there's going to be steep demands on new leadership. Once all these things have been completed and this kind of settles down, post gambling review, how do you think the BGC will be reshaped and what initiatives will it take to represent UK gambling? I think this is actually where Grianne and the BGC's Governance should look and think about this as a blank canvas of how to represent UK gambling post-review in what should be a less politicized arena as the regulations come through and as operators adapt to the new laws. Now, I think one of the points of focus will be to regain consumer trust. which has been rocked over the last four years. Also, I think she mentioned it in her opening statement that she wants diversity to play a part of the progress of UK gambling. I think that will be a point of focus for the BGC, how to broaden the commitment of UK gambling. its profile and also who is involved in the industry. Finally, I'd also like the BGC to coordinate better with leadership. So yes, they are the voice for UK gambling, but perhaps they require a more active response from PLC leaders. I want to ask you a bit of a rapid question on my side on this topic. Why we are on this topic? What does she have to be careful about in her new tenure, do you think? What does she has to watch out for and avoid turmoil? Well, look, I think there's going to be an adjustment period. I think the process of everyone in the UK gambling industry wants the resolution coming in, in the next six month period, they don't want this going into 2025 because it would be half a decade of kind of in conclusion with regards to what are the terms of play. for the industry. I think there is kind of an essence on speed and actually getting to the point of settlement as it appears now. The other thing is to post review is looking and making sure that UK gambling has kind or a unified structure to, um, to contend with its, with its future challenges. The other thing about the betting and gaming council is that I think it has looked, UK gaming has evolved, but it has to kind of represent the future makeup of, of the industry and within that, not just the PLCs, but every type of operator within UK gamings sphere, it's, it's a tricky job. Mm hmm. And, uh, yeah. There you have it, our Ted's opinion on what's to come for BGC. Thank you for this insight. We wish, of course, Ms. Hurst best of luck in her new role. And on that note, we're going to end it here. Thanks, Ted, for joining me today for our Gaming Daily. I was Victor Cahier. And stay tuned for the next episode. Bye bye.