Brightstar Lottery has confirmed a significant shake-up of its senior leadership structure, with its global lottery CEO preparing to exit the business at the end of June.
Renato Ascoli, who has served as CEO of global lottery at Brightstar Lottery, will officially step down from his role on 30 June after one year in the position.
Prior to joining Brightstar, Ascoli held various executive roles at IGT before the wider business underwent its break-up last year.
Marco Tasso, currently chief operations officer for international and Italy operations, has been appointed to the newly created role of executive vice president and COO for global lottery.
In his new position, Tasso will carry responsibility for all of Brightstar’s global lottery operations, spanning technology, product development, marketing, sales and product management.
Tasso brings considerable industry experience to the role, having worked across IGT’s B2C and B2B businesses for more than 20 years in a range of senior positions.
His previous roles include senior vice president of global supply chain and services, senior vice president of global lottery marketing, and a spell as CEO of Northstar Lottery Group.
Tasso will report directly to Brightstar CEO Vince Sadusky, who paid tribute to both the outgoing and incoming executive in a statement accompanying the announcement.
“As Renato prepares to step down, I want to thank him for his many years of service and steadfast commitment to our business and people,” Sadusky said.
Sadusky also outlined his confidence in Tasso’s ability to drive forward the company’s strategic ambitions, adding that “Marco’s insights and experience will help shape the lottery operating organisation and optimise it to deliver results.”
The leadership change arrives roughly four weeks after Brightstar published its Q1 financial results, covering the three months to 31 March, which showed revenue edge up year-on-year to $587m.
Adjusted EBITDA climbed 15% during the same period, with Sadusky striking an optimistic tone about the company’s long-term growth trajectory beyond the quarterly figures.
Sadusky has identified an opportunity to retain users within Brightstar’s own digital ecosystem by offering additional gaming products alongside lottery, rather than directing consumers to external platforms.
“A lot of the growth we have had so far has been around the iLottery market and our market share,” he said, noting that iCasino games and sports betting also play a supporting role in driving performance.
Following those results, Brightstar reaffirmed its full-year outlook, with revenue expected to land between $2.50bn and $2.55bn and adjusted EBITDA projected within a range of $1.16bn to $1.19bn.
