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Europe
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William Hill has hired Yanica Sant as its group senior counsel (regulatory). Sant was previously the senior counsel for the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), spending more than seven and a half years at the regulator.
Swedish trade group SPER has named Maria Wennerberg Sedigh as its new CEO. Sedigh, who has been a senior advisor at SPER for more than four years, takes over the position from Jenny Nilzon, who chose to leave the role for a job outside the gambling industry.
The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) has appointed Kasper Vestergaard Frandsen to run its Statistics Committee. As well as chairing the committee, Frandsen will continue his day job as a special advisor and market analyst at the Danish Gambling Authority.
Bede Gaming, which became part of the Gauselmann Group in 2020, has appointed Colin Cole-Johnson as its new CEO. Cole-Johnson will take up his new role on April 4, 2022, leaving his position as gaming product director at Entain. The current managing director, Alex Butcher, will then become a non-executive director.
Annamarie Phelps CBE, the chair of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), announced she will be stepping down from the BHA board at the end of her current term, which is the end of May 2022. Joe Saumarez Smith, a current non-executive director, whose own term does not end until September 2023, will act as chair for the remainder of the term.
OPAP has hired Ilias Katsaros as its new chief retail officer. Katsaros began his new role on March 1, 2022, previously having held numerous senior roles in various commercial functions in the United States, Germany and Greece, most recently working for clothing brand adidas.
XLMedia announced that Christopher Bell has formally stepped down as non-executive chair, having announced his intention to leave the role on January 19, 2022. Julie Markey, a current non-executive director and chair of the remuneration committee, has been appointed as the interim chair while a search for Bell’s successor is underway.
Separately, XLMedia has confirmed that Caroline Ackroyd has now joined the company as chief financial officer and as a member of the board of directors, as originally announced in November 2021.
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North America
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Rush Street Gaming has said Greg Carlin will step down as CEO on May 1 and will be replaced by long-time CFO Tim Drehkoff. Drehkoff has spent nearly 20 years with the gaming company and was appointed CFO in 2012. Most recently, Drehkoff has been focused on Rush Street’s proposal for developing a Chicago casino, along with other emerging U.S. and international markets.
Former tribal chairwoman Lynn Valbuena has been elected as tribal chair of the San Manuel Tribe in Southern California after leaving the position in 2020. Valbuena served three consecutive terms as the tribe’s chairwoman starting in 2014 before she was replaced by Kenneth Ramirez in April 2020.
San Manuel also named former MGM Resorts International CFO Dan D’Arrigo as the CFO for the tribe’s business operations. D’Arrigo, who was involved in MGM’s acquisitions of Mirage Resorts, and Mandalay Resort Group, as well as the creation of the company's real-estate investment trust, MGM Growth Properties, will oversee the finance operations for the California tribe that purchased the Palms Casino for $650m.
Former Isle of Capri Casinos CEO Virginia McDowell has become the first woman inducted into the Mississippi Gaming Hall of Fame. McDowell, who retired after Isle of Capri was acquired by Eldorado Resorts in 2017, was the only female CEO of a publicly traded gaming company, beginning in 2007 until her retirement. Currently, she serves as a director with Entain plc.
Bobby Lavan, current senior vice president finance and investor relations, will succeed Steve Capp as chief financial officer with Bally’s Corporation. Capp will leave Bally’s at the end of April to pursue other interests and opportunities. Lavan has been with Bally’s since May 2001 and in his role led the acquisition, financing, and integration of Gamesys.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has selected Che Chou to join the state’s new esports technical advisory committee. Chou, who is senior director of esports at Ubisoft Entertainment, is the eighth member of the esports committee, created by Senate Bill 165 passed during last year’s legislative session.
Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, Michael Soll, president of Innovation Group, and Daron Dorsey, executive director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) have been elected to the governing board of the International Center for Responsible Gaming.
Red Rock Resorts has named Scott Kreeger as president. Prior to his appointment, Kreeger has been the Las Vegas-based gaming company’s senior vice president of development since September 2021.
Lottery.com, an Austin, Texas-based technology company, has said William C. Thompson Jr. has joined the company’s board of directors. Thompson is a partner with the investment banking firm Siebert Williams Shank & Co. Thompson will become chair of the audit committee, replacing Steven Cohen who will continue to serve as a member of the audit committee.
Additionally, Lottery.com has appointed Ryan Dickerson as chief financial officer and president, Katie Lever as chief operating officer and chief legal officer, and Matt Clemenson as chief revenue officer.
White Hat Gaming has appointed Andy Whitworth as CEO of its U.S. division White Hat Studios. Whitworth joined the company in 2001 after holding executive positions with NetEnt, Tatts Group and Scientific Games during his 17-year career.
The International Gaming Standards Association has named John English, managing director of Maxxsure, and chairman, and Earle Hall, president and CEO of AXES.ai, as vice chairman of the 2022 IGSA board of directors.
Syed Hussain, chief information officer with the Oregon Lottery; Bala Kuthyar, vice president of software engineering at Light & Wonder; Martin Pedak, director of technical compliance at Playtech; and Nimish Purohit Sr., global vice president of quality – gaming at Aristocrat Gaming, have been named members of the IGSA board.
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Caribbean
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The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Finance has appointed its first Gambling Control Commission as the government tries to regulate the proliferation of private member clubs providing casino-style games to its members.
Stephen Tang Nian, a former banker and current board member of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, will serve as chairman, while Stevan Thomas, managing director and senior software developer at Prodigy Software, has been named deputy chairman.
Kenwyn Ogeer, Jerome Herrera, Kalifa Julien, Dr. Dave Seerattan, James Philbert, Asa Archie, and Anil Maraj were also named to the nine-member regulatory commission.
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Asia-Pacific
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The Victorian state government has named lawyer and businesswoman Annette Kimmitt as inaugural CEO of the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC), a regulator carved out of the former combined gaming and liquor authority. She began work on March 21. Kimmitt most recently was CEO and managing partner of law firm MinterEllison, whose board removed her in March 2021 after her objection to the firm defending Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter over a rape allegation.
Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges was unanimously elected vice president of the International Horse Sports Confederation (IHSC), according to an IHSC statement on February 28. The development follows his election as chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities in September.
A former head of Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) has been appointed head of the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money laundering watchdog. T. Raja Kumar, whose appointment is in force from July 1, led the CRA from 2008 to 2011 and currently leads his nation’s FATF delegation.
Following the arrest of CEO and junket heavyweight Levo Chan, casino operator Macau Legend Development has rejigged its board, appointing company veteran and executive director Melinda Chan Mei Yi as CEO and executive director Li Chu Kwan as co-chairman with Chan’s husband, David Chow. The company also said in a March 1 Hong Kong bourse filing that solicitor Li Chun Tak and Patrick Mak Ka Wing have been appointed as a non-executive director and independent non-executive director, respectively.
Title
Africa
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The Malawi Gaming Board and National Lotteries Board has appointed experienced company director Rachel Mijiga as its new CEO, effective from February 9, 2022.
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Former MGA staffer Yanica Sant joins William Hill, Trinidad and Tobago appoints its first regulators and Malawi appoints a new gaming board head.
