BetBright hires ex PokerStars director as sportsbook and casino MD
Sarne Lightman previously held senior roles at various Stars Group brands for more than 10 years
BetBright has hired former Stars Group veteran Sarne Lightman as the Dublin-based operator’s new managing director sportsbook and casino, EGR Intel can reveal.
Lightman, who officially started his role on 8 August, most recently worked as chief marketing officer (CMO) at forex trading firm 24option and will report directly to BetBright CEO Marcus Brennan.
The newly created manging director sportsbook and casino role will see Lightman become Brennan’s second-in-command, taking over responsibility for marketing, as well as sportsbook and casino.
Director of sportsbook Noel Hayes will now report directly into Lightman.
“I am delighted to announce that Sarne Lightman has started with BetBright and will be working very closely with me as managing director sportsbook and casino,” Brennan told EGR Intel.
“Sarne not only greatly increases the bandwidth of the company executive team, but he also brings a wealth of global experience in gaming and marketing as we prepare to move from our start-up phase into to a globally growing business.”
Sarne Lightman joined BetBright as managing director sportsbook and casino on 8 August
Prior to 24option, Lightman worked for more than 10 years in senior roles at various The Stars Group (formerly Amaya) brands, including as global marketing director of Full Tilt for three years.
He originally joined PokerStars in 2005 as country manager for Australia and New Zealand, before taking on director positions and leading the company’s growth across Asia and South America.
He also served as StarDraft’s interim global marketing director, rebranding and relaunching the company after its acquisition by Amaya in 2015.
Chief marketing officer – 24option
Interim global marketing director – StarsDraft
Global marketing director – Full Tilt
Regional director Latin America – PokerStars
Regional director Asia Pacific – PokerStars
Country manager ANZ – PokerStars
“It is very exciting to be joining BetBright at such an important time in their evolution,” Lightman said.
“During my career, I have always worked for customer-centric companies and brands that have built their own platforms. In my view this control is key to a company’s long term success as only they have the ability to continuously listen to and evolve around their customer’s needs.
“At BetBright their mission statement is simple: to build a better product for sports betting and casino players. Their bespoke platform has already won multiple awards and there is a huge depth of innovation in the upcoming pipeline.
“I am very much looking forward to helping drive the growth of this highly innovative company in the UK market and beyond. “
In other BetBright news, the Irish operator recently announced it was on track to increase its full-year net gaming revenues (NGR) by 270% year-on-year to €16m having already surpassed the €6m in revenues it recorded last year in the five months to 31 May 2017.
The company, which recently unveiled a new in-house built Cash Out function, currently has 115 employees, more than half of which work in technology but only nine on the firm’s trading floor.