iGaming Business magazine iGB 111 July/Aug | Page 94

iGB Live! Spotlight
Richard
Glynn
The former Ladbrokes CEO says gambling
industry leaders need to focus more on
ensuring their businesses are sustainable
if they want to avoid further clampdowns
such as the FOBT cut
iGaming Business: You had a long career in the gambling
industry, becoming CEO of one of the biggest gambling
brands in the UK. What have you been up to since leaving
Ladbrokes in 2015?
Richard Glynn: Keeping myself incredibly busy with Alinsky
Partners, which is half working with private equity on coaching and
advisory, and the other half working on a real passion of mine, which
is mental wellbeing in the workplace as a basis for all sustainable
businesses, so it has been a really exciting time.
Have you been tempted to return to the sector, and if not,
why not?
I absolutely adore the industry. I was in it for many years – I was
lucky enough to work with some fabulous people at Sporting Index
for eight years and then had many years with Ladbrokes. It is the
most complex business and it has fascinating people. The truth is I’ve
never really left it; I continue to work with people in the industry and
stay very close to it. It is just slightly less public these days.
You will be participating in an iGB Live panel discussing
damaging perceptions of the gambling industry. These have
blown up since you left the sector and are related to the
intense regulatory and political scrutiny around FOBTs and
responsible gambling. Were you aware of this storm brewing
while still at Ladbrokes, or has the intensity and scale of the
clampdown surprised you?
I was very aware of it and most observers in the industry will know
that I tried to create a firebreak back in 2010, 2011. Most people
know about the now rather famous Mark’s Club dinner I organised
in 2011– it was a dinner I organised for the CEOs of every sector of
the industry to try and arrange for the industry to take the lead on
sustainability. Unfortunately, at that time self interest prevailed but it
was a different time. All I would say is those people who think that it
was just about FOBTs are missing the issue. They are just a lightning
rod. It is all about sustainable business and grasping that as the
leaders of industry is critical nowadays.
What lessons do you think igaming businesses should take
from the FOBT situation, given they are now in the sights
of regulators, politicians and pressure groups such as the
Campaign For Fairer Gambling?
I think the lesson isn’t just for gambling. The lesson is that all
businesses have a duty now to be sustainable and to deliver their
businesses responsibly. Because of the transparency on the internet
and because of the power of certainly the millennials, transparency
and authenticity are the keys to long-term profitability. I see many
“I spend half my time

working on a real passion of mine,
which is mental wellbeing in the workplace
as a basis for all sustainable businesses”
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iGamingBusiness | Issue 111 | July/August 2018