People news 12 February 2015
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (6 February to 12 February 2015)
Mecca Bingo head of ecommerce joins Playtech
Stevie Shaves becomes gaming operations director at Playtech’s end-to-end bingo division and is replaced by Mark Henderson
Mecca Bingo head of ecommerce Stevie Shaves has left the firm to take up a gaming operations director role at Playtech’s B2B bingo team.
Shaves will be based out of Playtech’s Camden office and will lead operations and customer retention teams within the division.
He leaves Mecca, a division of the Rank Group, after a year-and-a-half at the firm’s Gibraltar office where he headed up the ecommerce team and was responsible for the operations of Meccabingo.com.
Shaves had previously been head of bingo and gaming at Gala Coral’s Galabingo.com brand between February 2012 and August 2013.
Matchbook appoints Sanderson as new CTO
Matchbook has appointed former Pinnacle IT Group director Marvin Sanderson as its new CTO as part of an expansion of the company’s technology team.
Sanderson, who had been working for the firm on a consultancy basis since the summer, was appointed CTO at the end of January with incumbent Michael O’Gorman moving into a newly created CIO role.
Sanderson’s arrival comes as the firm prepares to unveil a host of new sports betting and casino products.
UK operator CasinoFloor signs up Rio Ferdinand
UK-facing operator CasinoFloor.com has signed-up Premier League footballer and former England captain Rio Ferdinand to help it make a splash in the competitive market.
CasinoFloor.com, whcih launched in 2013 and is powered and operated by EveryMatrix, offers more than 700 online slots games, including NetEnt titles Excalibur and Gonzo’s Quest, as well as a sportsbook product.
The deal with Ferdinand was announced as part of its ‘Look who we’ve just signed’ campaign, which sees Ferdinand appear on the CasinoFloor.com homepage under the strapline ‘Time for a new game’.
Caesars Entertainment Corp has announced that CEO Gary Loveman will step down from the role in July, and will be replaced by Mark Frissora.
Caesars said Loveman will stay on as chairman, and will start the management transition at the end of the first quarter.
Frissora, who was previously CEO of car rental giant Hertz, joins Caesars as CEO designate until he takes over the role full-time on 1 July.
GTECH‘s president and CEO of Americas Jaymin B. Patel is to leave the company next month to pursue new opportunities.
Patel joined GTECH in 1994 and has since helf a number of senior positions including president and CEO of its lottery operations, COO and CFO.
“Jaymin Patel has shaped, defined, and embodied the core values of our Company,” GTECH chief executive officer, Marco Sala, said.
“His tireless work ethic and boundless intellectual curiosity, underscored by his integrity and humility, made him a natural leader for our Company and industry,” he added.