Emma Floyd has been appointed as director of sport and gambling at the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, known as DCMS.
The role places Floyd at the centre of two major public-facing policy areas, covering sport and gambling at a senior government level.
Sport policy under her remit includes elite competition, grassroots participation, major events, and the government’s relationship with sporting governing bodies.
Gambling policy sits alongside sport because of the deep commercial links between betting, sponsorship, advertising, and consumer protection in the sector.
Floyd replaces Ben Dean, who moved to the Cabinet Office earlier this year after more than six years leading the sport and gambling brief at DCMS.
Dean had steered the department through the publication of the Gambling Act 2005 review white paper in April 2023 and the change of government after the 2024 general election.
Floyd said in a LinkedIn post: “Sport and gambling sit right at the intersection of growth, regulation and public trust – and they matter a lot to people, communities and everyday life across the country. There’s a real opportunity to get that balance right.”
She joins DCMS from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, where she held several senior director-level positions.
Her previous roles included director of clean energy investment and director of non-domestic energy affordability, as well as senior responsible owner for the Great British Energy set-up programme.
Floyd also serves as a non-executive director on Great British Energy’s board, bringing significant experience in overseeing large-scale public sector programmes.
Her appointment arrives as the UK continues to push forward with its gambling reform agenda, which began following the 2023 white paper.
That white paper emerged from a review conducted two years earlier to assess how well the Gambling Act 2005 held up in a rapidly changing technological environment.
Key reform measures have included tighter consumer protections, an online stake limit, a statutory levy to fund research and treatment, and expanded customer controls.
The Gambling Commission has simultaneously made unlicensed online gambling a growing enforcement priority, pursuing cease-and-desist notices, registrar referrals, and large-scale URL removals.
Floyd will work closely with Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross as part of the ministerial team responsible for taking these reforms forward.
One immediate challenge is the Illegal Gambling Taskforce, a 12-month initiative targeting payments, advertising, and enforcement cooperation across multiple agencies.
The taskforce is chaired by the minister responsible for gambling and co-chaired by the DCMS director of sport and gambling, making Floyd’s involvement central from day one.
Her appointment signals that the government intends to manage economic growth, legal betting market stability, and public trust as interconnected priorities moving forward.
