NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 31, 2018 / Newgioco Group, Inc. (OTCQB: NWGI) (''Newgioco'' or the ''Company'') a leisure betting technology company providing regulated sports betting and gaming products and services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Russ McMeekin, Harold Wolkin and William (Bill) Rutsey to the Company's board of directors. The change, which took effect on July 23, 2018, represents the next phase of Newgioco's corporate evolution and strengthening of the Company's non-executive board of directors in preparation for entering the rapidly developing USA regulated sports wagering market.
Russ McMeekin has over 25 years of professional experience in gaming, technology and executive management. Mr. McMeekin served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Progressive Gaming International, an integrated gaming management systems provider who pioneered the use of embedded radio-frequency identification, also known as RFID, in poker chips and advanced sports betting systems included mobile gaming for the casino gaming industry worldwide. He also served as a member of the board of the American Gaming Association and the Canadian Gaming Association working on specific assignments related to sports and on-line wagering. In addition, Mr. McMeekin also currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer, President and co-founder of TSXV listed Universal mCloud, a Cloud and AI company with many similar technology attributes as Newgioco. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of SCI Energy, Executive Chairman of Yokogawa Venture Group and held a variety of senior executive capacities at Honeywell International including Global President of Advanced Software and Internet Business.
Harold M. Wolkin, is an executive, investment banker and financial analyst with over 30 years of proven business success. Mr. Wolkin previously served as Executive Vice President, and Head of Investment Banking of Dundee Capital Markets; Co-Founder, Vice Chairman, Head of Investment Banking of Sandfire Securities, Inc; Managing Director, Diversified Industries; Investment and Corporate Banking; Vice President and Director, Equity Research Analyst of BMO Capital Markets and BMO Financial Group. In addition, Mr. Wolkin has held a variety of roles with Canada Trust Corporation, Royal Trust Corporation and Crown Life Insurance Company as well as serving on numerous boards and committees of exchange listed, private and non-for-profit companies including serving as vice chairman of the board and chair of the audit committee of TSX listed Baylin Technologies and Cipher Pharmaceuticals; and chairman of the governance and compensation committee of Diamond Estates Wine & Spirits. Mr. Wolkin is a Chartered Financial Analyst (''CFA'').
William (Bill) Rutsey, has had a highly accomplished career as a senior executive and an advisor to the public and private sectors in the gaming, sports and entertainment and real estate fields, culminating in his positions as Chief Executive Officer in the gaming industry in Nevada, Ontario and nationally in Canada. Mr. Rutsey founded the Canadian Gaming Association (the ''CGA'') in 2005 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until June 2017, where he was a national advocate for the gaming entertainment industry, responsible for positioning the association to address regulatory, political and educational issues in the industry, including being a regular commentator on gaming issues in media and before the government. Since June 2017 he has acted as an advisor to the CGA. Mr. Rutsey co-founded and served as Chairman of Canada's pre-eminent annual gaming industry convocation, the Canadian Gaming Summit and also served as co-publisher of Canada's premier gaming industry magazine, Canadian Gaming Business. Prior, in his role as Chief Executive Officer of RPC Gaming Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of Multigames International Inc, Mr. Rutsey developed and managed gaming businesses in Ontario, Las Vegas and internationally, including a chain of sports bars in Las Vegas, and has been licensed by gaming regulators in Nevada and Ontario. As founder and practice leader of the Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) Gaming Consulting Practice, he advised numerous private and public-sector clients, including the Ontario government, authoring the Ontario Casino Market and Economic Impact Study - the blueprint for the Ontario casino gaming industry. He also previously advised professional sports organizations on the design and development of new stadium and arena facilities and various levels of government on public infrastructure projects. In 2017, Mr. Rutsey received the Canadian Gaming Industry Leadership and Outstanding Contribution Award, which is awarded for lifetime achievement.
The new independent board members were contemporaneously appointed to board committee positions as follows:
- Russ McMeekin will serve as Chair of the Compensation Committee; member of the Audit Committee and member of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee.
- Harold Wolkin will serve as Chair of the Audit Committee, member of the Compensation Committee; and member of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee.
- Bill Rutsey will serve as Chair of the Nomination and Corporate governance committee, member of the Compensation Committee; and member of the Audit Committee.
Each of our new directors bring wealth of global experience across a variety of different industry groups along with extensive experience in gaming operations and strategy with significant scale to form Newgioco into a world-class sport betting and gaming technology company. Working in harmony with the new board, Company management expects to start the process of preparing itself for expansion outside of its core market in Italy and into strategically defined regulated jurisdictions around the world. The teams' strategy on the US market will prove to be a highly valuable asset as we pursue opportunity in the US for significant expansion in the regulated sports betting market and online gaming and brings a fresh perspective to our current activities in other markets. Newgioco expects to be an innovative leader in these new jurisdictions leveraging it's solid foundation and deep experience in Cloud and AI technologies. Newgioco will build from its highly differentiated technology position in Italy and will leverage its new board to expand this as well as its Capital markets reach.
''I am absolutely thrilled to have Russ, Harold and Bill enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to have significant roles in building the early foundations of Newgioco Group. Indeed the transformation deepens not only our corporate bench and also our business playbook as we set out to become a world leader in leisure betting for years to come. We believe that the extraordinary qualifications of the new governing team is major transformation for Newgioco which is now positioned to enter the rapidly developing U.S. sports wagering market on the back of the recent U.S. Supreme Court Ruling,'' remarked company Chairman and CEO, Michele Ciavarella. ''Russ, Harold and Bill collectively bring more than 50 years of experience in the gaming industry and extensive talent in areas such as corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, joint ventures, corporate governance, financial reporting, long term budgetary oversight as well as both financial and business strategy. The strong independent board coupled with a highly talented and respected executive team are key ingredients to make our U.S. deployment plan a huge success and with our plans to list on the NASDAQ stock market.''
About Newgioco Group, Inc.
Newgioco Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a fully integrated, licensed gaming technology company. The Company conducts its business primarily through retail neighborhood betting shops and internet-based betting software platform under the registered brand Newgioco through our licensed website www.newgioco.it situated in Italy.
The Company offers its clients a full suite of leisure gaming products and services, such as sports betting, virtual sports, online casino, poker, bingo, lottery, interactive games and slots, as well as an innovative betting platform (www.odissea.at) providing both B2B and B2C bet processing. Additional information is available on our corporate website at www.newgiocogroup.com.
Investors may also find us on Facebook® and follow us on Twitter @NWGI_gaming.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecast," "plans," "intends," "potential" and similar expressions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon currently available information. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, as amended by the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. One or more of these factors have affected, and in the future, could affect our businesses and financial results in the future and could cause actual results to differ materially from plans and projections. Therefore, because of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that our objectives and plans will be achieved. All forward-looking statements made in this release are based on information presently available to our management. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
Investor Relations Contact
Newgioco Group, Inc.
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SOURCE: Newgioco Group, Inc.