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THE HUDDLE
In front of the curve Alex Leese speaks to Tim Poole on the GI Huddle about his gaming industry journey so far, life as a CEO and his vision for expanding Pronet Gaming You didn’t mention you were a Liverpool supporter – I should have worn my Liverpool top! Could you explain your history in the industry and how you got involved in gaming? I always think gaming is an industry that finds you, rather than you find gaming. A lot of people seem to come across it accidentally, but once they’re in, they get the bug – and it’s very difficult to leave. I went into sports broadcasting, then eventually went through to the Press Association where I was Head of Sales. I moved to GVC (now Entain), then to Offside Gaming – where I took on a Managing Director role. I then had a stint with running a site in the UK – Smart Live Casino – which it is fair to say was a difficult experience given the shareholders involved, but one I certainly learned a lot from. I then moved to William Hill, where I worked as the International Director. Two years after that I moved on into their Corporate Development department. Looking back at my time as the CEO of Smart Live Casino, once you’ve experienced doing it yourself from the top, it’s very difficult to go back to working for a big corporate. I was waiting for the right opportunity to arise and that’s when I heard of the role with Pronet Gaming. It was absolutely the role I was always waiting for. You've spoken about your time at William Hill: how useful and beneficial was it working in emerging markets and new territories there? At William Hill, my role was to run their regulated businesses with Italy and Spain, which came with its own challenges including a lot of advertising restrictions. When you’ve got a business as big as WIlliam Hill, it’s very difficult sometimes to be as agile as you need to be. As I moved into Corporate Development, it became obvious to me there was a clear appetite to go into new markets. I started off the licence application into the Buenos Aires
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province and made partnerships – maybe something that William Hill wasn’t used to; that was quite an exciting role. And Pronet’s focus? There was a perception previously before I joined that it was an emerging market specialist; however, that’s something I’m keen for us to get away from because we are operating in regulated markets! So, in that bid to change perceptions, what do you have to do to get the message out about regulated markets? The level of marketing we now have across LinkedIn and digital advertising is excellent, and something I’m very proud of. The stand we had at ICE 2020 was a real statement and a huge success. It was what paved the way for the growth we saw during 2020, when we signed over 21 new customers.
"I always think gaming is an industry that finds you, rather than you find gaming" It’s about getting Pronet at the top of B2B platform providers and that’s been the working progress of the last 18 months. Given the achievements you’ve set out and what you’re aiming for, how would you sum up your time as Pronet CEO so far? Pretty successful I would hope! It was always my aim to build a company I always
