The Football Pools, an iconic Liverpool business, first started selling its coupons outside Old Trafford, home of fierce rivals Manchester United

On average we have a winner every 3 minutes

The Football Pools is the UK’s favourite football gaming brand

Pools, or tote betting, is the most popular legal form of sports-based betting outside of the UK

The global pools market in football and horseracing is worth $80 billion

We donated £600 million to help fund major improvements in stadium safety across many clubs in the UK

The global gaming market is worth $350 billion and growing +5% year on year

Sportech is one of the leading suppliers and operators of pools/tote betting in the world

Sportech has launched a Joint Venture in India

The biggest ever Football Pools top prize was £4 million won in March 2010

The Football Pools is the world’s oldest football gaming company

Across North America, Sportech Racing has a 50% market share in horseracing pools

We have a presence in over 30 countries

We have paid out over £10 billion in prize money to our customers

We are the exclusive operator of pools/tote betting on horseracing in the Netherlands

We are the leading provider of horseracing wagering solutions in North America with over 25,000 terminals

We process over $13 billion in bets every year

The Football Pools has over 500,000 players every week

Over the years we have donated over £1.1 billion to good causes

About us 

 

Senior management

 

Meet the senior management
of Sportech PLC

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Sportech PLC has a senior management team with a wealth of experience across many sports, gaming and leisure sectors, both in the UK and internationally.

Sportech PLC

	Luisa Wright, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, age 35 Luisa was appointed Group General Counsel and Company Secretary in February 2011. She joined the Company from Olswang LLP, where she specialised for over ten years in advising clients in the gambling, sport and media sectors. As Group General Counsel of Sportech plc, Luisa provides legal advice to the Board and senior management and coordinates legal and regulatory advice across the Group.
	Mickey Kalifa, Corporate Development Director, age 46 Mickey was appointed as Corporate Development Director on 1 July 2009. Mickey is a Chartered Accountant with extensive corporate finance experience gained directly in industry. Over the last 20 years Mickey has worked in a number of executive and senior management roles in the UK, USA and the Netherlands, across a range of blue-chip businesses, including OpenTV, Liberty Media, BSkyB, Time Warner, Disney, Young and Rubicam and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has been involved in a number of capital raisings and start-ups, as Managing Director, CFO and Adviser, in many cases managing highly successful exits.
	Richard Boardley, Director of Corporate Affairs, age 57 Richard was appointed Director of Corporate Affairs in 2006. He joined Littlewoods in 2000, following over 20 years’ experience in the leisure and gambling industries in the UK and abroad with Whitbread and Bass. His involvement with the regulatory aspects of gambling began in the 1990s, following an extended secondment to the Home Office. He is also Secretary to, and a Trustee of, The Foundation for Sport and the Arts.
	Bob Mercer, Corporate Development Executive, age 54 Bob was appointed Corporate Development Executive in September 2012 having spent 15 years working in the UK horse racing industry. Bob is a Chartered Management Accountant with wide ranging financial and operational experience and joins the company from Arena Leisure Plc where he was CFO and Company Secretary for 12 years. Prior to that Bob held a number of Board and senior management positions in the wholesale distribution Industry.
	Nicola McCabe, Group Financial Controller, age 32 Nicola joined Sportech in November 2010 to head up Group Finance and support the Executive team for the enlarged international business following the acquisition of Sportech Racing. Nicola qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC and after four years of auditing businesses varying in size from small owner managed businesses to complex international groups she made the move into industry to Parkwood Holdings plc, where she held various roles including Finance Director of the landscaping and arboriculture subsidiary and latterly Group Financial Controller. Nicola is also a qualified tax advisor and acts as secretary to the Audit Committee.

 

The Football Pools and e-Gaming

	Conleth Byrne, Managing Director, The Football Pools, age 46 Conleth has over 20 years of management experience in the gaming industry across retail and online, including 14 years with Ladbrokes in a wide range of operational and marketing roles. He was also Marketing Director at the start up betting shop chain and online business, Better. More recently he was Director of Sales at Barcrest IGT before joining as The Managing Director of the Football Pools business in November 2011. Conleth is a Chartered Marketer.
	Carl Lynn, Finance Director – UK and Online, age 37 Carl joined Littlewoods back in 1996 and has progressed within the business to head up the UK finance team. Carl was involved in the Sportech acquisition of the Littlewoods business in 2000 and has been heavily involved in the Group's more recent corporate activity, including the disposal of the Bet Direct business in 2006 and the acquisition of the Vernons business, which included gaining competition commission clearance in 2007. Carl is a Chartered Management Accountant.
	Steve Lerner, Director – Online, age 53 Steve was appointed Head of Online in 2010. Prior to joining Sportech in 2000, Steve worked in the leisure, retail and banking sectors, both in the UK and overseas. Since 2000 he has been involved in the development and operation of a wide range of new gaming initiatives across online and offline channels. As Head of Online, Steve is responsible for Sportech’s current online gaming activities covering The Football Pools, Vernons and Littlewoods brands.
	Kevan Woodcock, Director of Technology, age 45 Kevan was appointed as Director of Technology in 2011 and has over 10 years experience of working in the gaming industry. Prior to joining Sportech in 2009 Kevan worked for Scientific Games Racing (now Sportech Racing) as Technical Projects Manager where he over saw the modernisation of Sportech’s IT systems. Prior to this Kevan spent 7 years working for the Horserace Totalisator Board.

 

Sportech Racing and Sportech Venues

	David J Schreff, Chief Operating Officer – The Americas, age 57 David was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, The Americas on 26 November, 2012. Over the last 30 years, David has worked in a number of board director, executive and senior management roles in leading sports, entertainment and media companies, including the National Basketball Association (NBA), Walt Disney (Disney Channel), Marvel Entertainment, and Viacom (Showtime Networks). From 2008 to 2011, he chaired the Board of USA Volleyball (a US Olympic Committee national governing body). He has been involved in a number of start-ups, and has advised numerous clients through his consultancy Bedare LLC, serving the gaming software, venue management, television content, corporate sponsorship, team sports (football/soccer, basketball, baseball), music, publishing and licensed consumer products sectors.
	Ted Taylor, Managing Director Sportech Venues, age 52 Ted was appointed Managing Director of The Football Pools in March 2006. In January 2009, Ted moved to become Head of Business Development with specific responsibility for the management of all e-Gaming relationships. Ted has significant commercial, technical and pool betting experience from his time as Operations Director of Arena Leisure Plc and previously with Harry Ramsdens Plc.
	Andrew Gaughan, Managing Director, Sportech Racing, age 47 Andrew joined Sportech Racing (formerly Scientific Games Racing) in 2003 and has over 14 years of experience in the gaming industry. Prior to joining Sportech Racing, Andrew was Group Vice President of Magna Entertainment Corp (MEC), managing MEC's North American simulcasting business and MEC Internet wagering and horseracing television business units, XpressBet and Horseracing TV. Prior to that Andrew was Vice President of Business Development for Woodbine Entertainment where he was instrumental in the introduction of account wagering and televised viewing of horseracing via the telephone, Internet and satellite and cable television. Andrew is a licensed attorney in Ontario, Canada, with an LLB from Queens University.
	Mark Gregory, Managing Director, Sportech Interactive, age 38 Mark joined Sportech through the recent acquisition of eBet Technologies Inc. (“eBet”) where he was President and CEO. Mark acquired ownership in eBet in 2008 and transformed it into a leading account wagering company in the US. Over the past 15 years Mark has been involved in launching and operating several emerging businesses including industry related account wagering platforms for Woodbine Entertainment Group and Magna Entertainment Corp.
	Phil Balderamos, Vice-President of Marketing (Venues & Interactive), age 32 Phil was appointed as Head of Group Marketing and Communications in January 2009. Before joining the Company, Phil was Marketing Manager at Birds Eye where he managed business units delivering a total of £100 million turnover per annum. Prior to that, Phil has held marketing management positions at several blue-chip companies, including Mars and Unilever, across a broad range of disciplines including product innovation, brand communications and category management.
	Louis Skelton, Vice President of Technical Services, age 51 Louis joined Sportech Racing (formerly Scientific Games Racing) in 1999 as Vice President of Technical Services and has over 20 years’ experience in designing and developing gaming and wagering systems in Europe and the US. Prior to joining Sportech Racing, Louis was Head of Information Technology for Horserace Totalisator Board.
	James D Birney, Vice President of Finance, age 43 James has been with Sportech Racing (formerly Scientific Games Racing) since 1993 and has served in a number of positions in accounting and general management for the division that holds the exclusive licence to operate off-track pools/tote wagering in Connecticut, US. James rose from the initial position of Staff Accountant to serve as Financial Analyst, Accounting Manager, Accounting Supervisor and Controller. In May 2006, James assumed the role of General Manager for the division.
	Frank Chesky, Vice President and General Counsel, age 42 Frank joined Sportech Racing in October 2010 as Vice President and General Counsel, responsible for the Company's legal, regulatory and compliance affairs in the North America, South America and Caribbean racing markets. Frank is an accomplished attorney with over 12 years of legal and business experience. He has practiced law in both the private and corporate sectors representing diverse clients in the technology, regulated energy, and manufacturing industries on matters ranging from intellectual property to complex commercial transactions.