2012 GAMBLING INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS AND MOVEMENTS
INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS AND MOVEMENTS
– Louisville-based horse racing operator Churchill Downs Inc.’s Rohit Thukral, the executive vice president responsible for technology initiatives and the president of online wagering arm TwinSpires.com resigned his position at the company.
– LVS, the sports book software provider owned by French gambling giant La Française des Jeux, announced Nick Dutton, a former Ladbrokes IT exec, as its new Programme Director.
– Kenilworth Systems Corp. has announced the addition of veteran casino executive George Hedrick to the management team as Executive Managing Director of Kenilworth subsidiary KenSysCo Gaming, Inc.
– Glyn Powditch was appointed by Leeds-based Sky Gaming and Betting to the position Director of Gaming responsible for the Sky Vegas, Sky Poker and Sky Bingo brands.
– Online gaming group Webis Holdings’ Finance Director Damon Waddington resigned his position effective April 20, 2012.
– Swedish gaming monopoly Svenska Spel appointed Peter Zäll to the position of performance area manager for Sports and Lotteries, effective April 3, 2012.
– Following a profit warning on the group's second half financial year ending 31 March 2012 and the resignation of chief financial officer Niall O'Kelly, Conor Foley resigned from WorldSpeads, only to be followed by the company being put under administration on suspicion of serious financial irregularities.
– Stephen Morana appointed interim CEO of UK gambling group Betfair from January 1, 2012. Morana has held the position of group chief financial officer of the group since 2006 and replaces outgoing CEO David Yu.
– Fintan Drury, a non-executive director and former chairman retired from the Paddy Power plc board effective December 14, 2011.
– Online gambling software developer and provider Openbet appointed former Microsoft UK business manager Amanda Bicknell as sales director.
– Swedish online gambling software developer and turnkey provider Net Entertainment appointed Per Eriksson as chief executive officer of the group effective March 1 2012. Eriksson formerly served as CEO and President of Dustin Group AB.
– Rank Group plc appointed chartered accountant Colin Child as an independent non-executive director. He will also join Rank's audit and finance committees.
– A restructure of eCOGRA’s board following a management buy-out saw the departure of non-executive directors Michael Hirst OBE, Bill Galston OBE and Frank Catania. The new board comprises Andrew Beveridge and Tex Rees.
– John Penrose, the UK Minister for Tourism and Heritage, appointed Robin Dahlberg, Anthony Lilley OBE, Walter Merricks CBE and Dr Graham Sharp as Commissioners on the Board of the Gambling Commission effective January 1 2012.
– London and Brussels -based trade association, the Remote Gambling Association appointed Sue Rossiter as Director of Projects and Policy effective January 5, 2011.
– 888 Holdings independent non-executive director, Michael Constantine, retired from the board.
– GigaMedia Limited appointed John Stringer as chief executive officer.
– Bally Technologies chief executive officer and director Richard Haddrill was appointed to a two-year term as chairman of the U.S. commercial casino trade body, the American Gaming Association.
– Alan Feldman, the public affairs director on the board of US land gambling giant MGM Resorts, was appointed chairman of the new board controlling the American Gaming Association’s National Center for Responsible Gaming.
– Independent certification laboratory, GLI Europe has appointed gaming industry veteran John Van Schaijk as Technical Director.
– EveryMatrix co-founder Jesper Jensen left the company to take up a new position at the Samvo Group heading up Trading and Sportsbook.
– Betfred appointed Phil Siers to replace outgoing exec Jason Brautigam in taking over the management of its Totepool operation.
– Tim Kennedy, late of the Barcrest group and one of the industry's top sales managers, has joined online gambling software provider Openbet as vice president for sales.
– The recently formed Microgaming Poker Network Management Board has appointed Dominic Harrison, former CEO of the Gala Coral Group, as chairman of the Network Management Board.
– Online gambling software provider Cozy Games has announced the appointment of Tim Green as chief operating officer to its Isle of Man licensed business.
– Gabi Campos stepped down as chief executive officer of PokerStars after a brief stint of under two years for reasons undisclosed. His future plans are unknown and PokerStars has embarked on a search to fill the position.
– Former Nevada gambling regulator, Dennis Neilander (50) has been retained by Multimedia Games Holding Company, Inc. as a consultant for compliance and gaming regulatory matters.
– William Hill plc's mobile gambling expert and head of its mobile gambling operations, Michael Byrne, has set up as a consultant in Gibraltar, having left the company early in 2012.
– Australian gaming operator Two Way Limited announced the departure of managing director Ben Reichel, following which the Board dissolved the position and appointed a new senior executive named Chris Grant-Foster.
– Online gaming group Webis Holdings appointed Sir James Mellon as a non-executive director as Jim Mellon stepped down from the board.
– Zdenek Lang has been appointed as the new marketing director of Fortuna Entertainment Group following the merge of the group's sportsbetting and lottery marketing teams. Vladan Crha has been redeployed to the position of director of investor relations for the group reporting to interim chief executive officer Wilf Walsh.
– GigaMedia Limited appointed Dirk Chen to the position chief financial officer.
– Oscar Nieboer left Betfair as global marketing and brand director after five years in the post.
– International Game Technology appointed John Vandemore as chief financial officer and treasurer to replace Pat Cavanaugh who spent three years in the post.
– Finnish gambling monopoly Alands Penningautomatforening (PAF) has appointed Anders Wiklund to replace Thomas Lundberg in the role of deputy chief executive officer.
– Three specialists have joined the UK Gambling Commission, namely; Detective Constable Mark Stanford – will work with the Sports Betting Intelligence Unit, shared regulation specialist Charlotte Meller – to support the establishment of the Local Authority Liaison Unit and former William Hill and Tote executive, Andrew Chapple – will provide the Commission with specialist support on a range of projects including the Commission’s money laundering compliance regime.
– Advertising and online gaming group Media Corporation Plc announced the appointment this week of Sara Vincent as interim group chief executive officer and director of the company with immediate effect.
– Boyle Sports named the company's head of online operations, Keith O’Loughlin, as chief executive of its new division, dubbed Boylesports Online
– Bodog UK appointed Adam Joseph in the position Head of Casino.
– Arcade and video games developer Konami Gaming has appointed Eduardo Aching to Vice President International Sales.
– Online bingo group Cozy Games appointed Rob Wheeler as commercial director, a nine year industry veteran who has previously worked for IGT-Wagerworks and Virtue Fusion.
– Online casino operator 32Red Plc appointed industry veteran David Bowen as a non-executive director to its board with immediate effect.
– Redbet Holding AB appointed Claes Hallen as new acting chairman, Andreas Helsing as chief financial officer and Marcel Asio as chief technology officer. Redbet subsidiary – SIA Optibet appointed Janis Cimins as chief technical officer.
