William Hill owner 888 names industry veteran as CEO

888 Holdings has named a new chief executive six months after its former boss quit amid an investigation into suspected money laundering.

Per Widerström will take over as CEO on 16 October, having last year stood down from the top job at Fortuna Entertainment Group, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest betting firm.

The gambling industry veteran had been the managing director of Gala Interactive and the chief operating officer of PartyGaming, where he oversaw its merger with Bwin Interactive Entertainment.

He has also worked at Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and IT provider Capgemini, and is currently the operating chairman at private equity investor Nordic Capital.

Widerström will replace Itai Pazner, who spent more than two decades at the William Hill owner until his shock resignation in January.

This followed the suspension of all VIP customer accounts in the Middle East when an internal probe uncovered failures with anti-money laundering standards and ‘know your client’ controls in the region.

Some accounts were reinstated after compliance measures were tightened, but the company warned in April that the debacle would cost it £25million to £30million in revenue this year.

Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, 888’s chairman, said Widerström ‘has a strong and proven track record of driving growth and delivering transformation programmes at multiple leading online gaming businesses’.

He added that the board is ‘very pleased to appoint someone with the skill set to deliver our objective to become a much stronger international multi-brand operator, leveraging our technology and data capabilities to drive an acceleration in growth’.

888 was previously in discussions to appoint Kenny Alexander as chief executive after an investor group run by the former Entain boss, FS Gaming, built a 6.6 per cent stake in the firm.

But the company abandoned the plans earlier this month when the Gambling Commission began a review into its UK operating licence.

In March, the regulator hit William Hill with a record £19.2million fine for not conducting proper checks on UK punters.

It found that one customer made a £100,000 bet despite exceeding his credit limit, while another opened an account and gambled £23,000 in 20 minutes without any auditing.

The failures occurred before the £1.95billion takeover of William Hill’s non-US business by 888 in July last year, which included about 1,400 betting shops and online gaming brands like Redbet and Mr Green.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said Widerström’s appointment ‘hopefully marks the end of the uncertainty around 888’s licence to operate in the UK, something the company will have no desire to jeopardise.’

888 Holdings shares were 3.8 per cent higher at 109.3p on early Tuesday afternoon, although their value has slumped by over three-quarters since their peak in summer 2021.