Exclusive: Lads ex trading director launches appeal
Ladbrokes' former head of trading, dismissed 10 days ago for unknown reasons, understood to be in the process of appealing his case alongside Mark Fogarty, ex horse racing product manager.
Ladbrokes’ former head of trading, dismissed from the operator 10 days ago for unknown reasons, is understood to be in the process of appealing his case alongside a second senior member of his team, eGaming Review can exclusively reveal.
Jon Thompson (pictured), head of trading at the UK-based operator for 18 months, was dismissed at the beginning of June with Ladbrokes veteran Mark Fogarty, horse racing product manager, who was suspended shortly afterwards, both for unknown reasons. Fogarty had been with the company for almost 20 years and is understood to have until the end of this week to launch an appeal against his sudden dismissal.
British newspaper The Daily Mail reported Thompson’s dismissal was over concerns of how he was running the operator’s trading department and his close connections to some of its high roller accounts however it is understood that Thompson refutes these allegations and intends to fully clear his name.
A Ladbrokes spokesman said he was unable to comment other than the process was “ongoing” and would be concluded in the “coming weeks”.
Thompson joined Ladbrokes in February last year after leaving his role as global head of trading for Bodog where he started as trading director for Bodog Europe in July 2007. At Ladbrokes he was responsible for trading, risk management and in-play betting across the online and retail platforms, and oversaw the introduction of margin management tools and the increased automation of the trading process.
He has had a 26 year career with a large majority of this spent in senior positions within the online gaming industry at Horizon 20, Centrebet (head of European trading), Expekt and Bodog.
Thompson was brought to the company in an attempt to claw back market share in the egaming space with Ladbrokes struggling in recent years to keep pace with its rivals with both William Hill and Paddy Power generating significant growth of more than 30% in online sportsbetting and mobile revenues. Thompson was in charge of a 200-strong team with around half of these employees focusing on in-play, however Ladbrokes’ growth has only been around the 9% mark.
The operator saw a 3.5% decline in net online gaming revenues in its full-year results for 2011, although the company showed signs of recovery with revenues up 5.9% for the first quarter. In-play betting now accounts for 57% of amounts staked, excluding greyhound and horse racing. Games also performed well, with revenues up 19% on the back of increased content and growth in activities.
Since joining from Sporting Index two years ago chief executive Richard Glynn has been under immense pressure to deliver results within the digital arm of Ladbrokes, while also being incentivised by the board to improve and potentially double the company’s share price.
After suggesting he would only obtain “the best deals with the best parties”, Glynn renegotiated a number of existing supplier contracts re-signing long-term deals with OpenBet and Microgaming as well as inking new contracts with the likes of IGT.
An analyst note from Simon French of Panmure Gordon two weeks ago described Thompson’s dismissal as “clearly disappointing news” which “calls into question the structure of the business which moved away from a divisional approach to a competency- or discipline-based one some 12 months ago.”