With plenty of comings and goings around the industry, allow CasinoBeats to give you the rundown on a number of recent manoeuvres.
BetMGM
Online gaming and sports betting platform BetMGM has bolstered its executive team, after announcing that Andrew Hagopian has been named as chief legal officer.
In the new role, Hagopian will oversee the company’s legal and compliance departments and will report directly to the group’s CEO, Adam Greenblatt.
Most recently, Hagopian was chief corporate counsel of MGM Resorts International, where he is lauded as playing an instrumental role in the collaboration with GVC Holdings to establish BetMGM in 2018.
“BetMGM resides at the intersection of technology and gaming,” said Hagopian. “This is an exciting opportunity to leverage my industry and transactional experience at a fast-moving company in a complex, regulated environment where a strong continued commitment to excellence in compliance will be essential to our success.”
888 Holdings
Vaughan Lewis is to join online gaming and entertainment solutions provider 888 Holdings in the newly created role of chief strategy officer, officially taking up the role in the early stages of next year.
Lewis will support Itai Pazner, 888 CEO, in the development of the group’s long-term strategy and will be responsible for strategic business development including M&A origination and execution. In addition, he will be responsible for investor relations, working closely with the CFO to develop the group’s investor relations strategy.
He joins the group from Flutter Entertainment, where he held the position of transformation lead for the international business following its acquisition of The Stars Group in May 2020. Prior to that he held the roles of SVP of communications at The Stars Group and director of corporate development at Sky Betting & Gaming.
Itai Pazner, CEO of 888 commented: “We are delighted to welcome Vaughan as 888’s first CSO. Vaughan is a highly experienced gaming industry professional with a wealth of relevant expertise across both strategic development and investor relations. I have no doubt that his skills and background will support 888 to identify and deliver further growth opportunities over the coming years.
Trustly
Trustly has unveiled the latest expansion to its burgeoning North American management team, with Citigroup and PayPal alumni join to support the group’s accelerated growth in the region.
Alexandre Gonthier will continue to lead the North American business as CEO of Trustly North America, and also takes on an additional role as global chief strategy officer. While John McLane has been promoted to president of Trustly North America, where he previously served as COO and CFO.
Wendy Roberts, formerly of Facebook, PayPal, and Fair Isaac, joins Trustly as VP of risk, and Michelle Tien, who boasts C-suite positions with Citigroup, S&P Global, and American Express, aligns with the group as VP of people and operations.
Oscar Berglund, Trustly’s Global CEO, says: “We are thrilled with the success and tremendous growth of our North American business, and are proud to invest in our executive team.
“Alex, John, Michelle, and Wendy all have proven track records of successfully scaling fast-growing organisations, and I look forward to Trustly North America further expanding our market-leading position in online banking payments.”
SIS
Sports Information Services has promoted Helen Ridley to the new role of head of group account management, while appointing Michele Fischer as digital sales consultant for the US market, as part of the group’s international expansion strategy.
Paul Witten, commercial director at SIS, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Michele to the SIS team and to Helen for stepping up to the new Head of Group Account Management position.
“SIS has made significant progress in expanding into new territories and these most recent changes to our Sales team will further support our expansion internationally and ensure that we continue to meet our operator partners’ needs.”