Kenneth Jack (Kenny) Alexander (born April 1969) is a British businessman, and was the chief executive (CEO) of

GVC Holdings Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker, and Sp ...

, a gambling company based in the

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, from 2007 to 2020.

Early life

Kenneth Jack Alexander was born in April 1969, in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of ...

, Scotland. He grew up in North Ayrshire, and earned a bachelor's degree in accountancy from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Career

In 1991, he joined the accountants

Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is the world's seventh-largest by revenue and sixth-largest by number of employees professional services network of independent accounting and consulting member firms which provide assurance, tax and advisory services to private ...

, where he worked for five years and qualified as a chartered accountant. In 1996, he joined Hazlewood Foods as a financial controller. In 2000, he joined Sportingbet, having seen the job advertised in the ''

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of ...

'', and by 2007 had risen to become head of its European operations. Alexander became CEO of GVC in 2007, when it was listed on AIM and valued at £26 million. In February 2016, he concluded the £1.1 billion reverse takeover of GVC's larger competitor

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment bwin.party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it was best known fo ...

. In April 2017, it was speculated that Alexander and GVC were looking to take over the bookmakers William Hill. In December 2017, it was announced that GVC would take over the bookmakers

Ladbrokes Coral Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...

for up to £4 billion, with Alexander as CEO, and a likely FTSE 100 index entry. In July 2020, it was announced that Alexander would retire, to be succeeded as chief executive by

Shay Segev Shay Segev (born 1976) is a business executive in the technology sector and the CEO of DAZN, the over-the-top (OTT) sports subscription streaming service. Described by Gaming Intelligence as a tech “futurist”, Segev is the former chief execu ...

, the chief operating officer. The Guardian called a "surprise departure".

Personal life

He is married to Caroline Alexander, and lives with his family in

Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population o ...

. Before his retirement in 2020, he was based in London during the week. His hobbies include no-limit cash poker, and when he worked at Sportingbet, considered becoming a professional gambler, about which his wife was "horrified". He owns a string of racehorses, including star mare

Honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both con ...

, and bets every day, either on horses or football. In May 2021, he was convicted of taking and driving away a vehicle without the owner's consent, drink driving and driving without insurance.

References

1969 births Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow British chief executives British accountants People from Kilwinning {{UK-business-bio-stub