SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Skycity Entertainment has informed the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) of its intentions to appoint former Tabcorp Holdings CEO David Attenborough as a non-executive director (NED).
The Auckland-based gambling group notified investors that Attenborough would serve as a corporate advisor to its board of directors from 1 March 2023.
The NED appointment will require the regulatory approval of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and will be communicated to investors once secured.
An industry figurehead, Attenborough served as CEO of Tabcorp Holdings from 2010-to-2022.
His tenure saw Tabcorp expand its TAB sports betting unit across Australia’s six territories and led the firm’s transformative merger with principal rival Tatts Group, a process that took two years to be completed.
Attenborough stepped down from his role at Tabcorp last year following the completion of a demerger of Tatts lotteries unit, replaced by Adam Rytenskild as CEO.
Skycity Chairman Julian Cook commented: “We are delighted that David has agreed to join Skycity’s board of directors.”
“David has extensive gambling industry and corporate governance and sustainability experience which will bring considerable expertise to the Skycity board.”
In Australia, Skycity’s Adelaide casino faces charges of alleged anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) law failings according to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac).
The charges formed part of a wider Austrac financial compliance investigation launched into the running of Australian casino properties. The agency claims that SkyCity Adelaide demonstrated a pattern of “serious and systemic non-compliance” with the country’s AML and CTF laws.
