Judges

Charlie Shakespeare has worked as the social media manager for WhichBingo since January 2021. In this time, he has spearheaded additional content for the brand, and continues to evolve WhichBingo’s presence online. With a background in theatre and production, Charlie brings a unique blend of creativity and strategic vision to the brand.

George McGregor is the Executive Director of Bacta, the gaming and amusement trade association, where he leads on government relations, regulatory affairs and communications issues.He is a government relations specialist having previously led one of the UK’s largest public affairs consultancies and provided senior counsel to many of the UK’s leading companies. His work won him the Public Affairs Campaign of the Year award. He is a former Co-Chair of Public Affairs Board, the professional body for public affairs professionals in the UK. 

He was a Special Adviser to a Labour Cabinet member when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. 

Christina Thakor-Rankin is a renowned expert and thought leader in the iGaming industry. She has over 30 years of experience in the sector, having worked in a variety of leadership and advisory roles across trading, operations, marketing, tech, risk and compliance for some of the world’s biggest brands. She is a passionate advocate for responsible gambling and works to promote ethical practices within the industry. She has spoken and written extensively on topics such as problem gambling, gambling addiction, and social responsibility. 

In addition to her work in the iGaming industry, she is a co-founder of All-in Diversity Project, an organization that works to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and author of the BSI international standard for workplace DEI, and CEO of simpal.ai, a female led tech start-up helping organizations harness the power of AI and autonomous applications. A regular speaker at industry conferences and events, recognized for her contribution to the industry, she also holds a number of non-exec and advisory roles, and is an ISO committee member developing new standards for AI. 

Dean Ryan is the Senior Content Marketing Director for the Gambling.com Group driving brand campaigns and customer focussed product innovation for all things positive PR. Involved in the gambling industry for over 20 years with an extensive corporate finance and wealth management background Dean has led a customer experience focus for the group since joining over 6 years ago. With direct operator expertise in VIP management, product and game development Dean has brought ideas to market, led promotional and education campaigns across some of the biggest casino and sporting topics that impact us all in the gambling industry sector. 

Lynsey is an experienced engineering and product professional with a strong background in product development and mobile technology. For more than seven years at GDC Group, she has held various product development roles, playing a key part in the company’s innovative technology solutions. Before joining GDC, Lynsey built a wealth of experience across multiple engineering and product development positions, establishing her expertise in mobile-first solutions and user-centric design. Her career spans the entire product lifecycle, from concept development to market launch, with a particular focus on enhancing mobile experience. 

Rob joined Better Change following five years at the charity Gordon Moody, where he played a key role in raising the organisation’s profile and expanding treatment capacity to meet growing demand. With over 11 years of industry experience — including recognition as a former winner of the Racing Post and SiS Betting Shop Manager of the Year award — Rob is a passionate advocate for the gambling sector. He brings a valuable perspective to the prevention and treatment of gambling-related harm. In his role at Better Change, Rob is focused on moving prevention efforts further upstream, promoting Positive Play as a means of reducing gambling harm before it occurs. 

Richard is a partner at Keystone Law in London, which is ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a leading gambling law firm.  Richard advises both the land-based and remote gambling sectors on compliance and regulatory issues and the Keystone team regularly advises on corporate deals involving licensing due diligence and change of corporate control applications.  Richard advises gaming and betting clients about preparing for compliance assessments, settling licence reviews, marketing, AML and social responsibility.  Richard holds the ICA Certificate in Money Laundering Risk (Betting & Gaming) and is a regular contributor to industry publications and a speaker at international gambling conferences.  Richard works with 400+ partner level lawyers at Keystone Law, with specialists advising the gambling industry on cryptoassets, payments, corporate law, offshore structuring, tax, and debt recovery.