National lottery faces questions over new boss’s record in gambling industry
Labour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenLabour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker. Based on its £32m revenues last year, the company made the money back in less than two hours.The Guardian has approached the government for comment.Explore more on these topicsNational lotteryGamblingWilliam HillRegulatorsnewsShareReuse this content
- ▪Labour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker.
- ▪Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenLabour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker.
- ▪Based on its £32m revenues last year, the company made the money back in less than two hours.The Guardian has approached the government for comment.Explore more on these topicsNational lotteryGamblingWilliam HillRegulatorsnewsShareReuse thi
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| Original publisher | the Guardian |
| Canonical URL | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/26/national-lottery-faces-questions-over-new-bosss-record-in-gambling-industry |
| Publication time | Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:00:34 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-26T05:22:20.046Z |
| Last seen | 2026-08-26T05:22:20.046Z |
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| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Labour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenLabour’s Dawn Butler and Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told the Gambling Commission they were ‘deeply concerned’ by the appointment of Phil Walker. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/ShutterstockNational lotteryNational lottery faces questions over new boss’s record in gambling industryMPs tell regulator they are ‘deeply concerned’ over interim CEO Phil Walker’s roles at William Hill and Game NationRob DaviesWed 26 Aug 2026 01.00 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleThe national lottery is facing questions over its new boss’s record in the gambling…
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