Smith’s role has been announced a day after B2B sports betting service provider FSB revealed co-founder and previous chief executive David McDowell would be joining its board.
Smith has now outlined the results of a strategic review, which will see FSB “deprioritise” US operations. It obtained licensing approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) as recently as September and was also recently given the green light to operate in South Dakota.
Following the strategic review, FSB said the UK and Ireland, Europe and Africa will be the bedrock of its operational focus in 2023. After announcing tier 1 partnerships in those three regions in 2022, including Olympic Entertainment Group, FSB will target the acceleration of existing customer growth and leveraging new opportunities.
While it is stepping back from US growth, FSB said the Canadian province of Ontario, where it received regulatory approval in March 2022, remains a committed focus of the organisation with two significant launches lined up for Q1 2023.
Smith said: “Leading FSB into 2023 is a great honour for me. The strength of our world class technology and the talent of our people means there is a huge opportunity ahead for the organisation. I look forward to working closely with this driven, determined leadership team who I have no doubt will secure us further success in our core markets.
“Our end-of-year strategic review has allowed us to further sharpen our laser focus when it comes to delivering for existing and new partners across our core markets in 2023 and we continue to work closely with our private equity partners Clairvest and share with them a huge sense of positivity for the year ahead.”
FSB in 2022
FSB has made a number of senior appointments in recent months and has also completed the winding down of its B2C white label business.
Ian Freeman, chief revenue officer at FSB, said: “2022 has been a successful year for FSB across our core markets with new partnerships forged and existing customers enjoying strong growth and new market expansion.
“We feel privileged to work with exceptional operational teams within our customer base, and our primary goal is to ensure that FSB resources are aligned to support the best market conditions and the revenue opportunities for them. Within this context, we’re now de-prioritising investment in the cost prohibitive US market in the short to medium term.”