Arnold started his new position at the beginning of this month, coinciding with the beginning of the company’s centennial year.
He comes to us from Noel Hayden’s LiveScore Group, which operates the sports betting brands Virgin Bet and LiveScore Bet. There, he served as chief operating officer and then chief commercial officer for a total of three years. His new position is chief executive officer.
Arnold’s earlier work experience includes stints at operators such as Betway, Boylesports, and SportingBet, where he was responsible for a variety of marketing and executive roles during his time at each of those companies.
He succeeds Derek Lloyd, who had held the position of Chief Executive Officer of The Football Pools since July of 2017.
“I’m delighted to be joining such an iconic British brand at a time of significant change and development,” Arnold said.
“A lot of good work has already been done to reposition the company for growth and I look forward to working with the executive team to bring these plans to fruition over the coming months.”
The Football Pools, established in 1923, has been a prominent feature of the British betting industry, with a number of pools products available in the market.
Following the acquisition of Littlewoods Pools by Sportech for the sum of £161 million in the year 2000, these were consolidated into a single organisation. After this, separate transactions for the Zetters and Vernons pool betting companies took place in the years 2002 and 2007, respectively.
After this, in 2008, the new business was renamed The Football Pools, and in the same year, an online service was made available to customers.
In 2018, a comprehensive online sportsbook product was released.
Sportech went on to sell the business to private equity owner OpCapita for £83m in 2017.
