Gibraltar Picks Stephen Hodgson as Gambling Commissioner but Gives No Start Date

Gibraltar has chosen its next gambling regulator as it sells a new prediction markets regime. No handover date was given, and the job advert put UK tax and lobbying experience at the centre of the role.

• HM Government of Gibraltar said on 13 November that a selection panel had unanimously recommended Stephen Hodgson as its next Gambling Commissioner and Executive Director
• Hodgson takes up the posts "upon the conclusion of the current Commissioner's tenure"; the release does not name the incumbent or give a date
• Andrew Lyman was appointed Gambling Commissioner in February 2020, according to the Gibraltar Gazette, and GBC News reported Lyman in the role in April
• The vacancy, advertised on 18 June, asked for gaming tax expertise and experience of advocating before HM Treasury
• The selection comes days after the minister pitched Gibraltar's prediction markets regime to a summit in the territory

A Unanimous Panel Picks the Next Head of the Gambling Division

The government announced the selection in press release 894/2026, after an independent recruitment run by the Gibraltar Development Corporation. It says Hodgson "brings more than 20 years of experience, with expertise in regulation, taxation, public affairs and international markets". It names no previous employer.

Nigel Feetham KC, Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry, said Hodgson's experience "will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen, diversify and broaden the sector's international reach". The minister also acknowledged contributions to the sector "particularly in relation to the development of the new Gambling Act and the prediction markets regime". Hodgson said the aim was to "firmly establish Gibraltar's status as a tier one centre of excellence for gaming".

Government records show that Andrew Lyman was named Executive Director and Head of the Gambling Division in September 2017, to start in January 2018, and was appointed Gambling Commissioner by a legal notice dated 6 February 2020. GBC News reported Lyman in the role in April 2026.

The Gambling Act 2025 came into operation on 1 April 2026, except for sections 55 to 77, and the Prediction Market Regulations 2026 came into force on 13 July. Under regulation 24, the Commissioner supervises authorised prediction market operators and advises the licensing authority.

The Job Advert Describes a Tax and Market Access Brief

The vacancy notice of 18 June asked for gaming tax expertise, experience of advocating before HM Treasury and other UK bodies "in relation to gambling taxation, regulatory reform, or market access", and knowledge of markets beyond the UK. The release describes Hodgson in almost the same terms. On the advert's wording, the government wanted a Commissioner to argue Gibraltar's case on UK gambling tax and find business elsewhere, not only to supervise licensees.

The Handover Date Is the Gap

The notice offered a fixed term of two years with an option to renew and expected final interviews in late September. The release confirms neither the terms nor a start date, and Lyman's end date has not been announced. Operators moving to the 2025 Act, and the territory's first prediction market licensees, do not yet know when their supervisor changes.

Gibraltar has picked a Commissioner whose profile matches a brief built around tax and market access. The choice is made; the handover, and the first test of that brief, has no date.