People news 7 May 2015
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (1 May to 7 May 2015)
Betfair creates new chief marketing officer role
Johnny Devitt named Betfair CMO after firm merges online marketing and brand director roles
Betfair has promoted director of online marketing Johnny Devitt to the newly created role of chief marketing officer (CMO) after merging his position with the existing brand director role.
According to sources, the London-listed operator integrated the roles two months ago with online marketing head Devitt assuming the new CMO role and brand director Mark Ody leaving the company.
The new CMO Devitt originally joined Betfair in September 2013 as head of marketing platforms, data and acquisition before being named director of online marketing in May 2014.
He previously worked at Irish operator Paddy Power for six years, during which time he held the positions of financial spread betting and CFD manager and later head of social and display media and marketing technology.
Rank appoints former Ladbrokes CEO to board
The Rank Group has appointed former Ladbrokes chief executive, and non-executive chairman of XLMedia, Christopher Bell to its board as senior independent director.
Bell, who will take up the position on 1 June, spent almost two decades at Ladbrokes which culminated in four years as chief executive prior his departure in 2010.
He had previously served as managing director of Ladbrokes Worldwide when the operator was part of the Hilton Group.
Bell is currently independent non-executive chairman of performance media firm XLMedia and helped guide the firm through its flotation on London’s Alternative Investment Market last year.
Seven days in people news:
Microgaming to build new Isle of Man HQ
Microgaming has begun construction on a new “state-of-the-art” office on the Isle of Man to accommodate the gaming supplier’s growing business.
The new five-storey building will sit adjacent to Microgaming’s existing office, MGS House, and both buildings will be joined by a tower walkway.
“Since we set up our global head office on the Isle of Man in 2001, we have grown at an incredible rate,” Roger Raatgever, Microgaming CEO, said.
“We now have over 160 people in our building here on the island, and we expect this number to grow significantly over the next few years,” he added.
Betfair’s Don Ryan moves to Parx Casino
The Parx Casino in Pennsylvania has bolstered its online gaming team with the appointment of former Betfair SVP of gaming Don Ryan.
Ryan joins Parx Casino as SVP of gaming development, and will be responsible for overseeing the land-based operator’s online gaming strategy.
“US online gaming will continued to be centered on existing land-based casinos for the foreseeable future,” Ryan told eGR NA.
“After having successfully scaled Betfair’s New Jersey online gaming offering via multiple Atlantic City land-based casino partners, I wanted to get involved in Pennsylvania on the land-based casino side and Parx is one of the premier casinos on the East Coast,” he added.
Sportsbetting supplier FSB Technology has announced the appointment of Richard Bosley as the firm’s new sneior product manager.
Bosley will assume responsiblity for Dafabet’s new website which goes live later this year and will be in charge of building the project team and capturing client requirements.
“Richard is a great addition to our growing team,” David McDowell, chief executive and co-founder of FSB Tech, said.
“His vast knowledge of project management will help us keep on track as we help more clients over the coming months,” he added.