Poll results: Richard Glynn's Ladbrokes tenure deemed a failure
Almost three quarters of readers believe Glynn has failed to deliver during his five years in charge
Ladbrokes’ outgoing chief executive Richard Glynn’s tenure has been an unsuccessful one, according to the overwhelming majority of respondents to this week’s eGaming Review poll.
The bookmaker announced last week that Glynn is to stand down from his position in April next year, five years after joining the company from Sporting Index.
Having been given a remit to overhaul Ladbrokes’ digital business, Glynn’s initial attempts to partner with William Hill Online (WHO) collaborators Playtech were scuppered when the rival bookmaker successfully obtained an injunction to block the deal.
Unsuccessful bids for a trio of egaming firms were subsequently launched, before Ladbrokes eventually signed with Playtech in March 2013 after the software supplier had sold its stake in WHO.
However, time spent waiting for the deal, as well as subsequent delays to the software migration process, resulted in a dwindling of online profits with Glynn himself admitting he had “underestimated the disruption” caused by the migration from Microgaming.
Almost three quarters (71%) of respondents to this week’s poll said Glynn’s tenure has been unsuccessful, with the operator having ceded too much ground to the likes of William Hill and Paddy Power during his time in charge.
Meanwhile, 16% of readers believe that while Glynn has achieved much in his five-year stint, there is still much more work to be done before Ladbrokes can claim to have turned the business around.
Just 13% of respondents agree with Ladbrokes chairman Peter Erskine’s sentiments that Glynn has transformed the company’s digital business and left it well prepared for a digital future, with 2015 set to be a pivotal year.