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Europe
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Flutter Entertainment’s CEO of its UK and Ireland business, Conor Grant, has resigned after 12 years with the company and will leave his role before year-end for a planned career break. Ian Brown, the former CEO of Booking.com’s Trips division, will replace Grant in September. The pair will work together to ensure a smooth transition, the company said.
LOTTO Hessen’s long-standing managing director Heinz-Georg Sundermann has retired, receiving the Hessian Order of Merit for his more than 20 years of service at the operator. Sundermann will be succeeded by Martin Blach, who has worked as chairman of the board at the Kloster Eberbach charity foundation.
Gambling platform provider Sportingtech has overhauled its executive team, appointing Bobby Longhurst as its new managing director. He is bringing with him a number of senior executives, including Colin McDonagh as chief sales officer, Daniel Stone as head of marketing and Anthony Murphy as head of commercial account management.
Gambling industry event organiser Clarion Gaming has appointed Andy Ventris as event director for the ICE London brand. He joins as Clarion prepares for the 2023 edition of the show that will run from February 7-9 at ExCeL London. Ventris has previously served as director of the London Book Fair.
UK Tote Group, the owner of pool betting operator the Tote, has appointed Lord Spencer of Alresford and Mark Holt as non-executive directors (NED). Lord Spencer is a successful entrepreneur and one of Tote’s 150+ investors. Holt joins as a tech-focused NED and currently works as chief product and engineering officer at 10X Banking Technologies Service,s as well as serving as a NED at lottery operator Camelot.
Internet Vikings, a Swedish-based online gambling hosting firm, appointed Rickard Vikström as its new CEO on July 1. Vikström replaced Peter Ekmark who will stay on as a board member.
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North America
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Bragg Gaming Group has appointed Mark Clayton to its board of directors. Bragg also announced that Cristina Romero has resigned from the board effective immediately, to focus on other business commitments. Clayton has served for more than seven years as chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Global Gaming Practice. He was also a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board from 2005-2008. Clayton currently serves as an independent member of the Palms Resort Casino compliance committee.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has announced the appointment of Jordan Maynard as a commissioner effective August 1. Maynard is an attorney who served as chief secretary and director of boards and commission for the governor’s office since February 2019. In his role, Maynard worked on issues related to gaming policy, and oversaw multiple appointments to the MGC.
Sandra Douglass Morgan has informed Gary Carano, the executive chairman of the Caesars Entertainment board of directors, that she is resigning from the board effective immediately. Morgan’s resignation was due to her recent appointment as the president of the National Football League’s Las Vegas Raiders. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Caesars said her resignation “was not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.”
AGS has elected David Farahi to its board of directors and will serve on the company’s nominating and governance, compensation, and audit committees. Farahi has served as executive chairman of Quick Custom Intelligence since earlier this year. Previously, he served as chief operating officer of Reno-based Monarch Casino & Resort from 2012 to 2021.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has appointed Robby Forbes, vice president of legal at Activision Blizzard, to the state’s Esports Technical Advisory Committee. Forbes is responsible for legal matters relating to the Activision Blizzard’s esports business, as well as commercial partnerships for the company’s video games. Prior to joining Activision Blizzard, Forbes served as vice president for legal and government affairs for the NFL’s Washington Commanders and Red Zebra Broadcasting from 2013 to 2017.
FanDuel has promoted Christian Genetski to the role of president of FanDuel Group and Mike Raffensperger has been named to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. Both Genetski and Raffensperger will report to CEO Amy Howe. Raffensperger will oversee revenue generation across the company’s wagering and free-to-play platforms, while Genetski will oversee all of FanDuel’s business development, partnership, corporate strategy, and government affairs unit.
Ginnie Hollis has been named director of engineering at Gaming Laboratories International (GLI). Previously, she served as GLI’s senior manager of engineering. Hollis has been with GLI since 2005, starting as a test engineer.
Meredith Brill has been appointed to Galaxy Gaming’s board of directors. Brill fills the seat vacated by William Zender, who resigned from the board as of July 1, 2022. She will serve until the next election of directors at a meeting of shareholders. Brill is a private investor and has been a shareholder of Galaxy Gaming for some time, the company said.
Aristocrat Gaming has hired Oriana Branon as the company’s vice president of communications and corporate affairs. Branon, a member of the executive leadership team, will report to Aristocrat CEO Hector Fernandez. In this newly created position, Branon will oversee all external and internal communications for the gaming division, as well as provide guidance on the company’s social, environmental, and governance responsibilities.
Aristocrat has also named Deanne McKissick as chief supply chain officer and Mark Wadley as chief marketing officer. McKissick will oversee the entire global supply change, while Wadley will oversee the marketing efforts world-wide to maximize the value of the gaming division and products.
Benjie Levy has taken over as CEO of Penn Interactive, a division of Penn National Gaming, replacing Jon Kaplowitz, who announced he was stepping down after nearly four years with the company. Levy is currently COO at theScore, which Penn acquired in August 2021 for $2bn. He will continue to help run theScore as well. Levy will split his time between Ontario and Pennsylvania, and will report to Todd George, Penn’s executive vice president of operations.
Global business-to-business sports betting and iGaming supplier FSB has appointed Lisa Waterfield to the position of director of sales for North America. Waterfield assumes her new role after two years as a business development consultant for FSB.
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Asia-Pacific
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Hong Kong-listed casino operator Wynn Macau announced on July 6 that president and executive director Ian Coughlan, 63, will be replaced by vice chairman, COO and executive director Linda Chen, 55, on March 1, 2023. Coughlan will then become a non-executive director and advisor to the company. Chen’s replacement as COO is Frederic Luvisutto, 50, promoted from COO of the Wynn Palace casino in Macau. A long-time protege of former mogul Steve Wynn, the Taiwan-born Chen is a member of various corporate and government boards in Macau and is a member of the Nanjing committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (Macau).
On July 7, Wynn Macau announced that the COO of the peninsular Wynn Macau casino, Ciarán Carruthers, will leave the company on September 30. Blackstone Group-controlled Australian casino operator Crown Resorts announced in tandem that Carruthers will take over as CEO from Steve McCann, in the post for only 13 months.
Together with the Carruthers announcement, Crown Resorts in July named veteran Las Vegas gaming executive Bill McBeath as chairman, former Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti as Crown Sydney chairman, former HBF health insurance CEO John Van Der Wielen as Crown Perth chairman, and DJW Advisory director and Victorian Legal Services Board director Ian Silk as chairman of Crown Melbourne.
Crown’s Sydney rival The Star Entertainment Group, which last month appointed Robbie Cooke as CEO, on July 20 announced that former Commonwealth Bank of Australia executive Scott Wharton will be CEO of The Star Sydney and “head of transformation” for the parent company. The “transformation” role refers to significant improvements in compliance that the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA), the New South Wales gambling regulator, requires from Star pending delivery of an ILGA inquiry’s final report into Star’s misconduct.
One-time ILGA chief executive and former Star Entertainment general manager for compliance and responsible gambling Micheil Brodie has been named a “non-legal” consultant to the gambling law team at Australian firm Addisons, according to a company statement on July 20.
Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) on July 26 named Barrie Wilson as Sydney-based manager of client services for the Asia-Pacific region. Wilson’s non-gaming background includes applied education training and business instruction.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) on July 22 promoted Michael Fitzsimons from director of trading in football and sports-betting products to executive director for wagering products, including horseracing, football and the Mark 6 lottery. Fitzsimons will also “lead the international commingling business and China Sports Lottery cooperation development”, the HKJC statement said. The appointment is effective September 1.
The government of India’s Meghalaya state has named online gaming consultant and former gaming executive Jaydeep Chakravartty as a member of the Meghalaya Gaming Commission. Chakravartty’s appointment as industry expert member rounds out the commission of at least three members, whose functions include policy direction and monitoring, guiding and punishing gambling operators. The chairman is Justice Naveen Srivastava, retired from Uttar Pradesh state’s Allahabad High Court; Srivastava was nominated to the groundbreaking commission in April.
Lobby group and industry practices arbiter the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) on July 15 named Prime Volleyball League CEO and cricket analyst Joy Bhattacharjya as its director-general. Bhattacharjya is also a seasoned media executive, with spells at ESPN and National Geographic.
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Latin America
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Betcris has hired Lucas Lebleu to act as its new casino director. It marks a return home for Lebleu, who is Costa Rican. He has spent his career working in the online gaming industry in Europe, including a four-year stint at William Hill. Lebleu’s last position was as senior sales director of Skywynd Group.
The new president of the Rio de Janeiro Lottery (Loterj) will be Hazenclever Lopes Cançado. Cançado replaces Cláudio Castro and was appointed by the governor. Loterj is in the process of launching new online products and focusing on the digital space.
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Flutter's UK and Ireland CEO is leaving the company after 12 years, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission appoints a new commissioner and the Rio de Janeiro Lottery gets a new president.
