People news 2 July 2015
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (26 June to 2 July 2015)
Ladbrokes axes international team with Cope to depart
International managing director Damian Cope to leave firm with nine other roles placed at risk of redundancy
Ladbrokes has announced plans to axe its international team with international managing director Damian Cope set to leave the firm and nine other roles placed at risk of redundancy.
The operator said the move comes after a costs and efficiency review and wouldn’t impact operations in Belgium, Spain and Belgium, which all have a locally based management team.
Australia MD Dean Shannon will now report directly to CEO Jim Mullen while the Belgium business, led by MD Alexis Murphy will report into UK retail MD Lee Drabwell.
The joint-venture in Spain, represented by Sportium retail director Mark Fowler, will liaise directly with Adam Greenblatt, Ladbrokes corporate development and strategy director.
188BET hires former Coral and BetVictor marketing chief
188BET has hired former Gala Coral and BetVictor marketing chief Karl Riley as its new head of marketing for UK, Europe and Latin America as the operator prepares to ramp-up its presence outside of its core Asian markets.
Riley, who will initially be based at 188BET’s London office, was previously marketing director at Gala Coral but most notably led the re-brand of Victor Chandler to BetVictor during his three-year stint at the Gibraltar-based firm.
The marketer will now lead a renewed effort to bring 188BET’s success in Asia to a number of other territories.
Seven days in people news:
IGT interactive director Michael Byrne to step down
IGT’s senior director of interactive Michael Byrne is to leave the firm just a few months after the completion of its US$6.4bn merger with GTECH.
Byrne joined GTECH in November 2014 after the gaming and lottery supplier acquired mobile gaming firm Probability, where he had been chief commercial officer for a little over a year.
He subsequently served as GTECH’s director of mobile business operations and became senior director of the interactive division when the merger with IGT went through earlier this year.
Camelot Global has appointed Duncan Malyon as senior vice president of North America as the lottery operator looks to expand its digital and retail footprint in the region.
The firm said Malyon’s role would be to continue to build its North America business, in line with its “global strategic business plans”.
Malyon joined Camelot UK as sales director back in 2009 and has been responsible for developing and implementing its retail strategy and business plans.
Caesars Entertainment Corp formally announced Mark Frissora as its new chief executive, five months after he was named CEO designate following the departure of incumbent Gary Loveman.
Frissora joined the casino giant in February from car rental giant Hertz, with the management transition getting underway at the end of the first quarter.
The new chief exec said he had spent the past few months visiting Caesars’ domestic properties and meeting with the company’s senior execs to “identify new opportunities to drive growth and efficiency”.