McIver poised for return to egaming
Former Sportingbet CEO Andrew McIver says he is looking at senior roles and reveals he turned down BetVictor approach
Former Sportingbet chief executive Andrew McIver (pictured) said he is lining-up a return to the egaming industry, despite recently rebuffing the advances of BetVictor, in an exclusive interview with eGaming Review.
McIver, who took up a non-executive director position with digital sports solutions provider Chroma Sports earlier this month, has been out of the industry since Sportingbet was sold to GVC Holdings and William Hill back in 2013.
However, speaking to eGR for an interview that will appear in the August issue, McIver said he was “definitely” interested in taking up an egaming hot seat and was actively scouring the market for suitable opportunities.
The former accountant, who led Sportingbet for more than a decade, said he had come close to making a return on a couple of occasions and revealed he turned down the chance to succeed Michael Carlton as BetVictor CEO last year.
“I did get approached by the head-hunter about whether I wanted to be the [BetVictor] CEO and I declined it,” McIver said. “I think it was a combination of it not being the right time and at that point my wife was less keen about us being abroad,” he added.
McIver said he would be attracted to operators with both “chemistry” and “potential” and specifically a European brand he described as being “undermanaged or undervalued over the last four or five years”.
Any role would be in addition to his responsibilities at Chroma, which McIver said consumed about three hours of his time per week.
McIver and Chroma were first introduced during his time at Sportingbet, when Chroma provided the operator with products related to sponsorship deals, such as its pan-European sponsorship of Euroleague basketball.
“And that’s what appealed about Chroma,” McIver said. “At Sportingbet, we had IT roadmaps that would last for years but Chroma were able to come in and do the work for us and bolt it on,” he added.
Earlier this week Chroma revealed it had completed the development of an advanced user interface for the recently launched TV and online betting service Win Cash Live.