Betsson revamps structure after recruiting tech veteran

Betsson has overhauled its managerial structure after announcing the recruitment of one of Sweden’s most prominent media technology executives, Peter Frey.

Frey (pictured) is to depart his position as chief technology officer at Sweden’s biggest media corporation, Bonnier News, to take a new combined role of chief product officer and chief technology officer at the Stockholm-headquartered gambling group.

Betsson said the roles have been merged as part of an efficiency drive, with the aim of closing the gap between technology and business.

The group said Frey will work closely with chief commercial officer Ronni Hartvig on business prioritisation as well as getting input from both strategy and operations divisions. Frey will join the company in the next few months.

“Throughout his career, Peter has shown that he can deliver highly user-centric products and is therefore a perfect match for Betsson,” said Jesper Svensson, CEO of Betsson Operations.

“With fewer layers in the organisation we know we can be more efficient, as we did with the successful merger of marketing and commercial a while back.”

Frey was credited with helping newspaper Aftonbladet become Sweden’s most visited website. He then switched to rival Bonnier News, where he was responsible for technology and development strategy.

Betsson’s former chief technology officer Stefan Nordin and chief product officer Jörg Malang left the company at the start of last year. Director of sportsbook technology George Adamson was appointed acting CTO a year ago, while chief strategy officer Peter Zäll has held the role of CPO on an interim basis since joining the company last April.

Svensson added: “It’s all about efficient delivery of business driven initiatives. Holding the combined CPO/CTO role, Peter Frey will be able to balance capacity changes and ensure swift delivery of improvements to our customer experience.”