Meet the Metropolitan
Chief Executive Officer
A dynamic leader in the gaming industry for almost three decades, Michael knows our business inside out, having been President of International Operations for Caesars Entertainment and Managing Director of London Clubs International between 2008 and 2014. More recently, he led a business turnaround as CEO of Las Vegas-based Affinity Gaming working with current owners Silver Point Capital before moving to the east coast of the United States for a stint as Chief Operating Officer of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment.
“Metropolitan Gaming now presents an exciting opportunity to drive business forward with fresh ideas and targeted investment,” says Michael, who is focused on building strong partnerships with customers, employees, regulators, and the community to forge the modern face of safe, responsible and exciting UK gaming.
A native of Palo Alto in Northern California with degrees from Dartmouth College and the UCLA Anderson School, Michael cut his casino management teeth with Nevada gaming and casino resort giant Harrah’s Entertainment and has managed business in South America, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia, throughout the United States, Canada, the Antipodes and is happy to be back in London where he can support Arsenal and the Harlequins in person again.
Managing Director
Alex has a wealth of experience in the casino industry. He first joined London Clubs International in 2011, returning to Caesars Entertainment EMEA as Chief Financial Officer in 2014 after a year with the Aspers Group where he was Head of Business Intelligence. Appointed Managing Director at Caesars in December 2019, he managed the business through Covid, steering its restructuring and eventual sale to Silver Point Capital.
Alex qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working for the global accountancy firm BDO. Outside work he sits on the trustee board of Kick-4-Life, a unique football club based in Lesotho, Southern Africa, dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable young people through a wide range of social development activities.
Chief Financial Officer
Mark joined Metropolitan Gaming in February 2023 as Chief Financial Officer. He has extensive experience covering corporate finance, divisional and commercial financial roles, and financial reporting. Prior to joining Metropolitan Gaming, Mark was the Group Finance Director at Wasabi, one of the UK’s leading foods to go business. He previously spent 4 years as Head of Finance at Carluccio’s and over 7 years at Starbucks where he held a number of senior roles. Mark is a chartered management accountant.
Chief Assurance Officer
With 40 years of international industry experience to draw on, Jimmy is widely recognised as a regulatory compliance expert, a subject matter expert on gaming maths and gaming related risk, and a first-class operator.
Working closely with the regulators in South Africa, he was responsible for the authorship and presentation of group operational standards, which were subsequently adopted as the Eastern and Western Cape equivalent of the UK Gambling Commission Licence Conditions & Codes of Practise.
Moving back to the UK in 2003, Jimmy has held senior positions in Operations, Marketing and Compliance with international UK companies, and most recently joined Metropolitan Gaming in January 2022 – he has been invited to judge at the annual ‘European Casino Awards’ on multiple occasions.
His role as Chief Assurance Officer provides the business expert oversight of all aspects of regulatory risk, and since joining, he has assembled and co-ordinated a multi-award-winning compliance team as well as developed an industry leading surveillance structure.
