888 Appoints Ex-Flutter Entertainment Exec Gallagher as CPO

Leading betting and gaming company that acquired the global, non-US business of William Hill in 2022, 888 Holdings, has appointed a new chief product officer (CPO) in the person of Flutter Entertainment’s former executive, Ian Gallagher.  

Gallagher to Lead “888’s Product Vision and Development”

The new CPO’s responsibilities will include leading the group’s product vision and development throughout their international global brands and business units. The list includes reputable names like Mr. Green, William Hill, 888casino, 888poker, and 888sport.

888 also operates the SI Sportsbook and SI Casino brands as part of a US-based agreement with Authentic Brands Group.

Gallagher took it to his LinkedIn page to share the news of his appointment, expressing his happiness for landing the new position as chief product officer at 888 and excitement for being able to work with the group’s chief executive officer, Per Widerström.

The latter replied to Gallagher’s message with a heartfelt message that read: “Ian, a big welcome to the team! Very much looking forward to working together with you!”

Using the voice of a spokesperson, 888 also expressed delight in further strengthening their executive team via the appointment of Gallagher. 

The spokesperson also praised Gallagher’s “exceptionally strong track record of driving product development in multiple leading online gaming businesses” while expressing their intention to harness his expertise and skills while continuing their world-class portfolio growth plans. 

The new CPO spent the last seven years with Flutter Entertainment where he occupied various positions including product director for the parent company for the last two years. 

There, he was responsible for leading the product management team for gaming, sports, and a variety of promotional platforms for the operator’s brands based in the UK and Ireland. 

Before he stepped up to the parent company position, Gallagher also worked for Paddy Power Betfair for five years, where he did a good job at boosting the ranks in the company’s iGaming product division.

This was not Gallagher’s first spell with the Irish sportsbook where 888’s new CPO was originally appointed casino operations manager in July 2019, before bidding farewell to the business as a games product manager at the start of 2015.

Gallagher also spent close to a year as senior casino manager at The Stars Group, formerly known as Rational Group. 

The new CPO joins the group’s C-suite following Widerström’s appointment as CEO on 16 October 2023. Chief financial operator Sean Wilkins will soon follow suit next month, replacing Yariv Dafna. 

In the meanwhile, chief strategy officer Vaughan Lewis will serve as interim finance chief.

Last September, 888 Holdings announced an important content boost via a newly inked agreement with business-to-business games provider and aggregation platform, REEVO.

During the same month, one of the group’s iconic brands, William Hill, announced it would receive live casino content from Pragmatic Play.