SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Novibet Chief Commercial Officer, Yannis Xirotyris, has confirmed that he is stepping down from the position after fulfilling his responsibilities for 15 months.
As CCO, Xirotyris played a role in orchestrating several commercial agreements with the Greek betting and gaming group, with a notable development being a merger deal with SPAC Artemis Strategic Investment Corporation (Artemis).
Should the merger plans reach full fruition, Novibet will secure a $650m listing on the Global NASDAQ exchange in New York as the company seeks to bolster its standing in the US betting space – an objective Xiortyris detailed he has worked extensively towards.
“I would like to share that I have taken the personal decision to resign as Chief Commercial Officer for Novibet,” Xirotyris commented in a LinkedIn post.
“Ending this chapter, I wish to thank and credit, in true Oscar fashion, the many hard working and dedicated people I had the pleasure of working with and the key results we achieved together:”
Prior to joining Novibet in June last year, Xiortyris was Regional Manager for Greece and the Balkans at Sportingbet, before beginning an eight year tenure at PokerStars, filling four vacancies.
He subsequently joined Flutter Entertainment in August 2020 – during by this point, the FTSE100 gambling group had acquired PokerStars – as International Development Director.
As well as focusing on Novibet’s US ambitions and participating in the finalisation of the Artemis merger during his 15 months as CCO, Xiortyris oversaw the firm’s launch in Ireland and a market access agreement with Big Bola in Mexico.
It has not all been smooth sailing for Novibet over the past year however – the company notably gave up its operating licence in the UK, one of Europe’s most prominent betting markets, in February.
The firm had been active in the UK since November 2014 as a provider of sports betting poker, roulette, blackjack and other casino games, but made the decision to exit the market this year for unspecified reasons.
If the full plans with Artemis for the US are realised, however, this will provide a significant bulwark against any difficulties the firm may have encountered in the UK, coupled with its presence in several other European jurisdictions.
