Exclusive: Betclic Expekt CEO to leave Friday
Senior executive departs after two years as new group CEO announces restructure and merger of Betclic and Expekt brands
Thomas Winter has agreed to an “amicable separation”, and will leave his role as CEO of Betclic Expekt this Friday, eGaming Review has learned.
Winter joined the company in January 2008, and has served as CEO of Betclic Expekt since October 2010.
Winter’s departure comes as new group CEO Ignacio Martos, who joined in September 2011, replacing Nicolas Beraud, announces major plans to restructure the company.
Martos has a history of spearheading change. In his previous role as CEO of travel company Opodo he made 57 employees redundant in the first five months of his tenure. His track record has contributed to rumours of mass departures from Betclic Everest in the next three months.
Under the new structure the Betclic and Expekt brands will fully merge, eGR can exclusively reveal, with the new operations divided into three European regions “ France, North and South Europe “ with the managers of each region reporting directly to former Opodo boss Martos. This decision effectively made Winter’s role redundant, after he declined an offer to head up French, Swiss and Belgian operations. Marc Guigo, formerly CMO of Betclic Expekt will now take that role.
Ricardo Domingues, formerly head of area management for Iberia and Latin America, will take charge of Southern Europe, covering Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, while Tomasz Mazur, former head of Eastern Europe, takes control of Northern Europe, responsible for Eastern Europe, Germany, Netherlands and the Nordics.
The group’s CRM and retention teams will be divided between the three decentralised businesses, while operations, including risk and fraud and trading, will remain in Gibraltar. The move as comes Martos looks to decentralise the company, effectively stepping back from the day-to-day management of Betclic Everest and putting Guigo, Domingues and Mazur in charge of their region’s P&L.
Following Betclic co-founder Nicolas Beraud’s departure in September, there had originally been plans to merge Betclic, Expekt and Everest Poker, however this was scrapped after Martos joined.
The new group management cancelled plans to apply for Danish and Spanish licenses, with the decision not to go into Spain effectively writing off around 20% of Betclic’s revenues. The company is now reportedly planning to apply for a Spanish license next summer, with Portugal, Poland and Germany also in the picture, depending on regulatory developments.