Wynn Interactive names Ian Williams as new president
Gaming industry veteran joined online operator as WynnBET chief operating officer in October
Wynn Interactive has named Ian Williams as its new president, a role that will see Williams manage the global day-to-day operations for the online betting operator.
Williams, who joined WynnBET in October as COO, has spent 20 years in the gaming industry as part of a career that’s included stops in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Williams also founded Thistle Gaming, a company that specializes in the delivery of real-time sports data feeds and virtual racing to tier one bookmakers in Europe and Asia.
Most recently, Williams served as president of online gaming for Churchill Downs Inc., helping grow the TwinSpires and BetAmerica brands as part of Churchill Downs’ Interactive division. During his five years at the helm, Churchill Downs’ online wagering businesses annually delivered record handle.
Williams joined Wynn just prior to what has become a sustained period of transition for its online division. After announcing plans earlier this year to spin off Wynn Interactive into its own public company, Wynn reversed course earlier this month, citing the need to focus on a lower-capital-intensive strategy on the digital side.
Around the same time, it was revealed that Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox would be stepping down at the end of January. Craig Billings, who started his Wynn Resorts tenure in 2017 as the company’s chief financial officer before assuming the reins of Wynn Interactive in May, will take over as CEO after Maddox steps down.
One of the first major tasks greeting both Wiliams and Billings will be deploying WynnBET in New York after Wynn Interactive was granted market access to the highly coveted state as part of one of the selected online consortiums.