Bookmaker Geoff Banks has issued a scathing response to the Gambling Commission following a speech delivered at ICE by the regulator’s Executive Director of Research and Policy Tim Miller.
Reported in Coinslot last week, it was a bit of a firestarter speech, not in a classic Prodigy way, more a kid bunking off school and lighting a match in the park kind of way.
It was a full-on ‘your fault, not our’s’ speech which certainly riled a number of attendees, notably Banks. The chief executive officer at GB Sports Advisors, he responded with vigour, posting his views on the Gambling Commission’s LinkedIn page.
But first in the firing line was the industry itself with Banks irked by the lack of challenge to Miller’s comments. “It is a stain on the industry that they meekly permit a regulator to make such a speech, unchallenged!” he stated, criticising a lack of pushback against the regulator’s narrative.
“The GC has single handedly marketed the black market, via its enforcement and regulation methods-to criticise the legal industry, and, as usual, make veiled threats,” Banks commented in his post.
“Not one operator stood up to press Miller on the real drivers: affordability checks, higher taxes, rigid GamStop, and heavier regulation making the legal market worse and uncompetitive.”
He went on: “Other regulations like bonus changes. Tax changes will be another. Restrictions. Weaponising affordability checks, and the worst- weaponising anti money landering with incoherent enforcement, is not why liquidity on exchanges (for example) have dropped off a cliff… it is regulations and fear of fines. And an active and coordinated campaign of funding anti-gambling activism with operator funds.”
It was certainly an outrage with many ouches – slapping not just Miller but also the passive industry figures attending the speech.
Banks surmised his message: restricting legal supply will not reduce consumer demand – it will only drive it to the black market.
“You can’t block your way out of demand,” he concluded.
Originally published on Coinslot on February 9, 2026. Republished with permission.