Playtech to name former DAZN exec Gleasure as next chairman

A former executive at DAZN, the sports streaming platform, is to be appointed this week as the next chairman of Playtech, the London-listed gambling technology group.

Sky News has learnt that Playtech will announce on Wednesday that John Gleasure, who was also a co-founder of the digital sports media group Perform, is to succeed Brian Mattingley in the role.

In accepting the Playtech chairmanship, Mr Gleasure will inherit a position which has repeatedly been at the centre of fractious corporate governance challenges.

Mr Mattingley, who has held the role since 2021, has overseen a frenetic period of corporate activity while also finding himself in the eye of a series of storms with shareholders over boardroom pay.

The most recent of those came in December when close to a third of investors rebelled over a €100m bonus plan for Mor Weizer, the company’s chief executive, along with other senior executives.

Shareholders give Mr Mattingley credit, however, for helping to navigate the company through a challenging period in the gambling industry, in particular his role last year in securing the sale of Snaitech, its Italian consumer gambling arm, for €2.3bn.

That deal, which received regulatory approval last week, represented a near-threefold return on Playtech’s initial investment and will trigger a special dividend worth up to €1.8bn (£1.5bn), to be paid in June.

The sale of Snaitech will transform Playtech into a pure-play business-to-business operation.

Many analysts believe the remaining company will rapidly become a takeover target.

A source close to Playtech pointed out that shares in the company had risen nearly 60% during Mr Mattingley’s tenure.

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Mr Gleasure, who will succeed Mr Mattingley as chairman after Playtech’s annual meeting next month, has also held roles at Sky Sports, which shares a parent company with Sky News, Hutchison 3G and Sony Pictures.

He continues to sit on the board of DAZN Group and is executive chairman of The Sporting News, a digital publisher in which Playtech acquired a minority interest in 2023.

Egon Zehnder International, the boardroom headhunter, has been overseeing the search for Mr Mattingley’s successor.

A Playtech spokesperson declined to comment on Tuesday.