Midnite has beefed up its product team with the hiring of former FanDuel head Willie Lok and Sky Betting & Gaming veteran Dave Pilgrim.
Incoming vice-president of casino and loyalty products Lok spent four years at FanDuel, joining as a senior product director before a promotion to vice-president of casino and loyalty product in February this year.
He also served as a head of product at Sky Betting & Gaming from late 2020 until 2022, having begun as a business analyst in 2017 and then rising through the ranks.
Pilgrim spent nearly 22 years at Sky Betting & Gaming, joining in 2004 as an odds compiler, before becoming a senior odds compiler in 2006 and an assistant odds compiling manager in 2007.
He was promoted to head of sport at the operator in 2009, then took on the role of trading operations manager in 2013. He became senior product manager in 2015 and finally principal product manager in February 2023.
Dale Tang, formerly of FanDuel, was named as Midnite’s general manager for Canada last week, while ex-SkyBet marketing head Andrew Mook was appointed head of brand marketing in May last year.
Tang’s appointment coincided with Midnite announcing its plans to move into regulated Canadian provinces, starting with Ontario.
The operator is currently only live in the UK and Ireland. It is also hunting for a casino manager and senior platform engineer to add fuel to the planned Canada launch.
As well as targeting international expansion in Canada, the challenger brand opened a South Africa hub in July, calling it a “statement of intent” in its well-publicised drive to break into tier-one.
Nick Wright, Midnite founder and CEO, said the appointment of Lok was part of the group’s playbook to remedy the “structural gap” in the online casino market in which “product expertise has been under-innovated”.
He remarked: “With Willie joining the team, we’re setting a new standard for casino and loyalty as we continue to push the boundaries of product innovation; having someone with his level of product and industry expertise join our team is a huge milestone for us as we look to scale Midnite into a next-gen tier-one global operator.
“We’re incredibly ambitious about where we can take our casino and loyalty products, and Willie’s appointment is an integral part of that journey. There’s a real opportunity to raise the bar here, and we want Midnite to be the company that does it.”
Lok added: “I’m really pleased to be joining Midnite and taking on the opportunity to help grow its casino and loyalty products.
“Building casino products at scale has shown me what a great player experience takes, and Midnite’s in-house platform is a rare foundation for delivering one.
“There’s a clear ambition across the business, and I’m excited to work with the team as we build out the proposition and continue growing the casino business.”
Dave Pilgrim wrote on LinkedIn: “I’m only three weeks in, but I’ve already been so impressed with the quality of people in the business – not just driven and competent, but also super welcoming.
“We’ve got a lot to do ahead of us to get where we want, but I already feel part of a team who are motivated to do it.”
Arnold Ash is EGR’s executive recruitment partner. It supports ambitious organisations to identify and attract industry leading executive talent. Find out more here.
The post Midnite bolsters product team with FanDuel and Sky Bet hires first appeared on EGR Intel.
Challenger operator continues to snap up Flutter alumni to support global growth plans, with plans to launch in Canada in the pipeline
The post Midnite bolsters product team with FanDuel and Sky Bet hires first appeared on EGR Intel.