Home » OCW News » January 2010 » Ladbrokes Seeks New Chief After Bell Resigns

Ladbrokes Seeks New Chief After Bell Resigns

Date published: 13 January 2010

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Christopher Bell has spent 20 years working for leading land and online gambling firm Ladbrokes, his most recent position being the CEO of the multi-million pound business, which is why his sudden resignation came largely as a surprise to the gambling industry.

According to reports, 52-year-old Bell informed the Ladbrokes board that he would step down as CEO later this summer. Bell was appointed CEO of the LSE-listed Ladbrokes in February 2006, following the splitting of Ladbrokes from large hotel group, Hilton International.

Bell's resignation comes just eight months after Peter Erskine, former chairman and CEO of large telecommunications company O2, was appointed chairman of Ladbrokes. It is unknown whether the executives saw eye to eye, but there are rumours Bell did not like working with Erskine.

However, Bell's departure seems to be amicable and he has agreed to stay on until a successor has been found. One of the reasons for Bell's departure may be due to criticism he received after Ladbrokes shares failed to perform as well as those of rival, William Hill, over the past 12 months.

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During this period Ladbrokes has faced increasingly stiff competition from the world's leading online gambling firms. For instance, while Ladbrokes shares dropped 5.4 percent in the last 12 months, William Hill's rose 18 percent, PartyGaming's rose 37 percent and 888's rose 8.5 percent.

As for potential successors, two names have been bandied around so far. The first is John O'Reilly, currently the managing director of Ladbrokes' online gambling division, and the second is Brian Wallace, currently Ladbrokes' finance director. However, the job will be anything but easy.

Whoever takes over the reigns of Ladbrokes will have to contend with an increasingly competitive market place as well as a likely increase in online gambling levies and taxes from the UK government. This is despite the fact Ladbrokes recently moved its HQ to Gibraltar to escape high taxes.