GiG appoints Richard Carter as platform and sportsbook CEO
GiG initiated a strategic review earlier this year with the intention to split the company into two separate entities, in order to fully optimise growth opportunities and ensure each business can benefit from the strategic and financial flexibility of their distinctive business models. The split will form two industry leading businesses with the potential to grow faster than in the current corporate structure.
Carter has strong experience from the igaming industry, being CEO of SBTech for close to five years where he led the company’s merger with digital sports entertainment and gaming company DraftKings through a three-way deal with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp in April 2020 and recently as CEO of Bragg; a Nasdaq and TSX listed online casino and gaming platform provider. These positions have given Carter a strong knowledge of GiG’s core markets and industry needs. Prior to SBTech, he was a director of research at Deutsche Bank, responsible for leading their highly rated pan-European Gaming Equity Research franchise.
The appointment of Carter comes after an extensive evaluation and selection process to identify the right candidate to position GiG’s platform and sportsbook division for future growth. An accomplished and inspiring leader, he brings a wealth of industry knowledge coupled with a strong and proven track record of operational execution and driving profitable growth in regulated online gaming markets. He will join GiG on 18 September 2023.
Carter will be responsible for the positioning of GiG’s platform and sportsbook division in the global, regulated igaming market, building on the strong position GiG already has as a supplier of its proprietary technology via software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to more than 40 clients in 35+ markets. In addition, he will be tasked with transforming the division into a stand-alone, publicly listed SaaS company, aligning people, technology, product and process development to drive innovation and execution across all verticals.
Richard Carter said: “I am delighted to become the platform and sportsbook CEO of GiG at such an exciting time in the group’s development. With its outstanding data-led proprietary technology platform, sector-leading regulated market coverage and diverse product portfolio, the GiG platform is exceptionally well positioned to maintain its recent strong growth momentum.
“I can’t wait to get started and am very much looking forward to working with the GiG platform and sportsbook team, building on the strong progress to date and, over time, helping to unleash and extract the full potential of a standalone GiG platform.”
Petter Nylander, GiG’s chairman of the board commented: “We are very pleased and excited to announce that Richard Carter will join GiG as platform and sportsbook CEO during Q3, 2023. The board believes [he] has the relevant experience, given his success as CEO of SBTech and has shown an impressive and deep understanding of the GiG business, its opportunities and provided thoughtful strategic considerations on how to build on the recent success of the platform and sportsbook business and drive shareholder value.”