People news 11 August 2016
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (5 August to 11 August 2016)
GVC hires Adele Lawton to head-up Cashcade business
Lawton appointed head of bingo following previous senior roles at operators including Gamesys, bet365 and Betfred
GVC Holdings has appointed online gaming veteran Adele Lawton to the newly created group head of bingo role, the London-listed firm announced this week
Lawton, who officially started her role on Monday, has worked in the egaming space for more than 15 years and will be responsible for the operator’s recently-acquired Cashcade business.
Prior to joining GVC, she held a number of senior positions at tier-one operators including head of games & bingo at bet365, head of bingo at Sky Betting & Gaming and head of Gamesys’ jackpotjoy brand.
She was also previously commercial director at Playtech and head of marketing at Betfred for six months, while her most recent role was operations director for Europe at real-money gaming platform Betable.
Former mybet CEO appointed as BetStars managing director
Rational Group has announced the appointment of former mybet CEO Zeno Osskó as the managing director of its BetStars sportsbook.
Osskó will join the company on 12 September and assume responsibility for the overall performance of the BetStars business, reporting to group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.
The announcement comes just weeks after Osskó confirmed he was leaving mybet, bringing to an end a 10 year stint, including a year as CEO.
Seven days in people news:
Scientific Games appoints new CEO
Scientific Games has appointed the former CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, Kevin Sheehan, as its new CEO.
Sheehan, who started his new role on Friday, replaces incumbent CEO Gavin Isaacs who will move to a more strategic role as the vice chairman of the board of directors.
Sheehan joins the Las Vegas-based supplier after a seven-year stint at Norwegian Cruise Line, where he oversaw “strong sales and EBITDA growth” and the company’s successful IPO in 2013.
Genius Sports expands senior team with Couchmans partner hire
Genius Sports has strengthened its commercial team through the hire of recognised sports lawyer Steven Burton from law firm Couchmans.
Burton, who joins Genius Sports at the start of September, will lead the commercial side of the supplier’s Integrity Services division as it looks to expand its roster of integrity partnerships which currently includes the likes of the English Premier League and Major League Baseball.
The appointment will be seen as something as a coup for the recently rebranded sports data technology and distribution firm, with Burton having been both partner and head of Couchmans’ sports data, betting and integrity team.
Former Betclic head of casino joins Extreme Live Gaming
Betclic Everest Group’s former head of casino, Dominic Bourke, has joined Extreme Live Gaming as its new chief operating officer (COO), the live casino supplier announced this week/
Bourke was with Betclic for three years and was previously operations director for Smart Gaming Group where he worked alongside Extreme’s CEO Darwyn Palenzuela, who was then chief technology officer for the Group.
He was also head of casino and games at Sportingbet for three years until March 2012 and has worked in the online gaming industry for over 10 years.
Q&A: Andreas Bardun, LeoVegas’ new head of sportsbook
A flurry of casino operators across Europe unveiled new sportsbooks ahead of the summer’s European Championships.
While operators such as Mr Green admit its service is designed as a complimentary product to its core casino business, LeoVegas has lofty ambitions to make its new sportsbook “the market’s fastest and most engaging mobile sports betting experience”.
The company’s move to launch a sportsbook caught the eye of Andreas Bardun, who left his position as NordicBet’s head of sportsbook to lead LeoVegas Sport in July.