Gaming Realms names new COO as Noel Rowse departs

Gaming Realms chief operating officer Noel Rowse has left the firm with former Sky Betting & Gaming director Stephen Downer (pictured) appointed his successor, eGaming Review has learned.

Downer joined the AIM-listed firm earlier this month after Rowse decided to part ways with the company in order to set up a new marketing agency.

Rowse’s departure comes after almost 15 years within a management team comprised of Patrick Southon, Michael Buckley and Simon Collins. The quartet were all founding members of Cashcade, which was sold to PartyGaming in 2009, before then going on to form Gaming Realms.

Successor Downer was gaming director at Sky Betting & Gaming for a decade but more recently spent two years at Betfair where he held the roles of director of US development and head of regulated markets.

“Stephen has proven experience at both scaling large gaming companies such as at Sky Vegas and building value in regulated markets, both of which are key to the growth of Gaming Realms,” Southon, Gaming Realms CEO, told eGR.

During his time at Sky Betting & Gaming Downer helped launch and manage all the operator’s gaming products – Vegas, Bingo and Poker – before leaving the Leeds-headquartered firm in January 2012.

He then spent a year as a gaming consultant to Gala Coral where he assisted in the launch of the bookmaker’s online gaming business on the Playtech platform, before moving on to Betfair.

Downer’s appointment at Gaming Realms comes after the operator recently reported a 48% sequential rise in Q3 revenues following a strong performance from its proprietary gaming platform.