U.S. land casino company gears up for online action

If you were wondering where former Betfred m.d. Chris Sheffield went when he resigned after an almost four-year stint with the UK online bookmaker, here’s the skinny.

Sheffield has joined the senior management ranks of US land casino operator Penn National Gaming, an outfit that operates across 16 states with around 26 properties…and has ambitions to enter the online gambling sector at some point in the future, hence Sheffield’s appointment as its new managing director for i-Gaming.

Sheffield is directly responsible to Penn National Gaming’s chief exec, Tim Wilmott, who has remained perhaps intentionally vague regarding his company’s online gambling plans, saying only that it is making preparations to enter the sector at some future point, but ducking questions on where and when.

There are presently three legal options in the States – Nevada for online poker, and Delaware and New Jersey for online gambling in general, but several other states where PNG has a presence are considering the possibilities.

In choosing Sheffield the company has exhibited a knowledge of the online industry; in addition to his management experience at Betfred, Sheffield founded the mobile gambling-based Million-2-1 enterprise, which he built up over a seven year period before selling the company to International Game Technology back in 2008 (see previous report).

Related and similar