People news 7 August 2014
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (1 August to 7 August 2014)
Rakesh Chablani named Betfred Digital MD
Former commercial director takes over from outgoing Chris Sheffield this week
Betfred has named Rakesh Chablani as the new managing director of its digital business, eGaming Review can reveal.
Chablani joined Betfred’s online arm in August 2011 as commercial director and assumed his new earlier this week, taking over from outgoing MD Chris Sheffield.
The pair will work together as part of a handover process until Sheffield officially stands down at the end of August.
“Hats off to Chris, he has been a great mentor and was key in my personal development process,” Chablani told eGR.
BetVictor head of CRM exits
BetVictor is searching for a new head of CRM after Leonard Judkins left the company to join lottery operator Lottoland.
Judkins, who joined BetVictor in May 2013, will move to Lottoland in order to take up the role of senior CRM manager from 1 August.
Previous to his time at BetVictor, Judkins held the role of head of community for O2 UK while he also spent three-and-a-half-years at the now Playtech-owned PokerStrategy.com as head of regional business units.
Gibraltar-based Lottoland offers customers the chance to play official national lotteries from all over the world and Judkins will be tasked with coordinating the operator’s multi-channel CRM strategy across all territories.
Seven days in people news:
Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) has appointed Gregory Chochon as director of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), in a bid to increase crossover between its offline brand and recently launched WSOP.com site in Nevada and New Jersey.
Chochon joins CIE and the WSOP from France’s Lucien Barrière Group, where he was head of poker for the French online poker portal, BarrierePoker.fr. Before that he was the group’s poker manager and was in charge of developing poker activities at Barrière’s 37 land-based casinos.
He brings a decade of marketing and managerial experience working with a number of gaming organizations, and also played an integral role in the WSOP and Barrière partnership, including the execution of three WSOP Europe events in France.
NetPlay TV has announced the appointment of Bjarke Johannes Lund Larsen to the role of commercial director, switching from his current role as COO of the subsidiary NetPlayTV Group.
Bjarke originally joined the interactive TV gaming company as chief operating officer in January 2007 and oversaw the acquisition and integration of Vernons.com.
“Having been with the Group for seven years, Bjarke has a gained a strong understanding of both the industry, along with the commercial and strategic demands of the Group,” Clive Jones, NetPlay chairman, said.
“The appointment of Bjarke will further strengthen the Board and we look forward to working closely with him to continue driving growth for our shareholders,” he added.
London Capital Group‘s chief operating officer John Jones has stepped down from his role at the financial spread betting company in order to “pursue other interests”.
Jones was appointed COO and head of risk management at the firm in July last year after previously working at Citigroup, Bear Stearns and Liquid Capital Group.
“His resignation will take effect immediately although he will remain as an advisor to the Company to ensure a smooth transition,” the company said in a statement.