Two MPs have questioned Allwyn UK’s choice of Phil Walker as interim chief executive of the National Lottery, saying they were deeply concerned about the appointment. Walker is due to replace Andria Vidler in September, after she leaves following almost three years in the job. She will remain in an advisory capacity until the end of October, and a search for a permanent chief executive is under way.
As covered in July, the Court of Appeal left Allwyn’s lottery win intact, keeping the fourth National Lottery licence in place. Allwyn UK runs the game under a licence that runs from February 2024 to 2034, and the National Lottery is regulated separately from the rest of British gambling.
Labour’s Dawn Butler and the Conservative’s Iain Duncan Smith wrote to the UK Gambling Commission to challenge the appointment. Their letter cited a 2024 personal sanction imposed on Walker after what they described as widespread and alarming failures to enforce money laundering and terrorist financing controls at William Hill, and asked what consideration the regulator had given to his past when judging his suitability.
The Commission’s regulatory record says a review of Philip Walker Moir’s personal management licence found a breach of paragraph 1 of the general conditions attached to personal licences under section 75 of the Gambling Act 2005, covering the period between May 2020 and October 2021. It issued him a warning under section 117(1)(a) and said he had been managing director for WHG (International) Limited, Mr Green Limited and William Hill Organization Limited, with responsibility for the overall management and direction of those businesses.
That history sits against a wider enforcement case at William Hill. In March 2023, three William Hill Group businesses agreed to pay a combined £19.2 million for social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures, the largest enforcement payment in the Commission’s history. Andrew Rhodes said the failings were so widespread and alarming that licence suspension had been considered, but the operator’s swift cooperation led the regulator to choose a financial penalty instead.
The MPs also raised Walker’s non-executive directorship at City Gaming, which owns Game Nation, and asked whether it was compatible with running the lottery. Game Nation said on 25 August that Walker would step back from that role from 1 September for the duration of his interim contract, and Companies House filings indicate he is likely to have earned more than £50,000 from the directorship. The Guardian said Game Nation is the UK’s third-largest chain of adult gaming centres.
Allwyn said Walker brings valuable operational, digital and marketing experience, together with an understanding of the operator’s landscape, and said the appointment will help deliver the next stage of growth and innovation of the National Lottery. Allwyn also said Walker did not lose his personal licence over the William Hill sanction. The Gambling Commission said it would not publicly comment on an operator’s personnel decisions. Walker is set to take up the interim role on 7 September.
