GiG appoints Brown acting CEO as Reed exits

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) has announced that Robin Reed is to leave his role as chief executive with immediate effect, and appointed its current chief operating officer, Richard Brown, as his temporary replacement.

Reed (pictured) will step down from the role today (September 5), having served as CEO of the operator and supplier since 2009, helping build it from an affiliate marketing business. He was also a member of the enterprise founding team at GiG.

“Robin has played a crucial part in building a unique one-stop global technology provider and we all owe him our sincere gratitude for this,” GiG chairman Petter Nylander said.

“However, the company now enters into the next phase of its development with different challenges and opportunities and the Board has reached the conclusion that GiG therefore also needs a different leadership.”

Brown will now assume the title of acting CEO, with GiG to undertake a search to identify a permanent replacement for Reed.

Having joined GiG in February 2016 as managing director of its GiG Media arm, Brown went on to serve as chief digital officer before moving to his most recent role as chief operating in November of last year.

Prior to his time with GiG, Brown served in various senior roles with Highlight Media Group and also had spells with THG Sports and Web Guide Partner.

“We have a skilled management team in place, I and the board have full confidence in Richard Brown who will be acting CEO of GiG from today,” Nylander said.

Nylander will now increase his engagement to take a more active role in GiG to support the succession process and the management team both strategically and operationally.

He added: “The strategy of GiG remains unchanged; to be the global operator and partner for strong brands in iGaming, with a sweetspot in taking an offline casino brand to a strong online offering, as we have with SkyCity and Hard Rock.

“We are focusing on securing potential contracts within the B2B Platform services and on servicing our many customers with fully managed and component solutions.

“We will continue the development of the Media services and the sportsbook, not least to leverage GiG’s opportunities in the US. We will also continue driving the B2C Gaming operators with a focus on growth in new markets.”

Reed’s exit come after GiG last month reported a decline in revenue for the first half of the year, in addition to a higher net loss than in the same period in 2018.

Revenue amounted to €63.4m (£57.0m/$70.0m) while net loss increased 152% year-on-year from €3.6m to €9m.