'The gambling industry is a success story yet we don't celebrate it as much as we should do - we apologise for it too much'

Barry Gibson has not exactly had a gentle coast into retirement.

The last day of September marks the end of more than 50 years in business for Gibson, many of them spent in the gambling industry as chief executive of Littlewoods, chairman of SIS and as a board member of William Hill, Playtech and BWin.

However, for the last four and a half years or so Gibson has been chairman of Entain, the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral among others, and it has been far from plain sailing. An investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of chief executives and the UK government's gambling review have made it an eventful few years.