888 names Alexis Zamboglou as managing director for UK and Ireland

Zamboglou replaces Phil Walker, who has been promoted to chief commercial officer.

UK.- 888 Holdings has appointed Alexis Zamboglou as its managing director for the UK and Ireland. He replaces Phil Walker, who has been promoted to chief commercial officer after taking up the MD position in January of this year.

Zamboglou has worked UK marketing director and Ireland managing director for Ireland at William Hill since January 2022. Before that, he was marketing director and UK strategy director at William Hill. He previously did stints as marketing director at Entain and Ladbrokes Coral after serving as head of digital marketing at the latter. He also spent a period as senior marketing manager and social media manager at Ireland’s Boylesports.

He wrote on Instagram: “I am hugely excited to get the opportunity to run the UK and Irish business, with some of the biggest brands on the globe in William Hill, 888 and Mr Green. Really looking forward to working across sports, gaming and marketing with some of the most talented teams in the industry and building on the success we’ve had so far in 2023.

“It’s been a year of transformation and foundation building for 888/William Hill. We’re now ready and revving to go for growth in both the UK and Ireland, underpinned by our continued and tireless work on player safety and our customer-first mission.”

It’s been a difficult period for 888 since its £1.95bn acquisition of William Hill’s non-US business from Caesars a year ago, which has led to significant debt. The company has been without a CEO since Itai Pazner stepped down early in the year amid revelations of KYC and AML failings related to VIP schemes in the Middle East.

A plan for former Entain CEO Kenny Alexander to take the helm has been abandoned after the Gambling Commission warned that the move could cause 888 to lose its British licence owing to ongoing investigations into allegations that Entain was involved in bribery in Turkey during Alexander’s tenure.

In June, 888 Holdings announced the completion of the sale of Its Latvian business, MrGreen.LV and WilliamHill.LV. It has sold the Latvian operations to Paf, the gambling operator owned by the regional government of Finland’s Åland Islands, for €28m.