Sporting Bet chose the announcement of its financial results for this quarter to also reveal its succession plans in relation to changes within its management team. Current finance chief Andrew McIver will become Group Chief Executive from October 2006. The firm’s current CEO Nigel Payne will become executive director, focusing on pressuring governments for industry regulation in Europe and the U.S.
Payne will also be tasked with assisting McIver and Sporting Bet’s Board with researching and developing new business opportunities. The changes at the top will take place on the date that the firm will announce its yearly results for the period prior to 31 July 2006.
If the yearly results are anything like Sporting Bet’s quarterly ones, the firm’s achievements will be nothing short of phenomenal. In the three months ended April 30, the firm’s gross margin has increased by 58 percent to GBP 84.4 million, while its profit before tax has risen 55 percent to GBP 21.2 million. The average daily figure generated from the firm’s Paradise Poker site is up 90 percent to GBP 575,339 and new customers have increased by 86 percent.
Payne, a high profile executive and longtime advocate of regulation for online gambling has achieved an impressive track record for the group, and the latest financial results underline his success in this area.

Sporting Bet’s chairman, Peter Dicks, credited much of the firm’s success to the work carried out by Nigel Payne. "The requirements of the business are increasingly demanding and require a broader and strengthened team,” Dicks said. “We are delighted that Nigel has agreed to stay with Sportingbet to take on a role that is so important to our long term success.”
Payne commented that he welcomes his new challenge with the firm. “Sportingbet has a real depth of talent that means I can now step down from the day to day responsibilities and concentrate on certain crucial areas such as regulatory development and business expansion. I am extremely proud to have led one of the most successful companies in the industry during its formative years, and that it has now become a significantly profitable international group."

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