GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 2 - October 2007

14 GPWA TIMES | GPWA affiliate interview series INTERVIEWWITH Dave Sawyer | webzcas Current Hometown: Bath, England Age: 33 Favorite food: Italian One book everyone must read: Clough: The Autobiography Sites: betsage.com & onlinecasinoreviewer.com FromGibraltar to bath, Dave Sawyer’s rockin’ steady all The way Y ou’ve been part of the online gaming industry for some time now. How did you get started? I come from an IT background with nearly 15 years experience working in the IT field within various industries. I have been working in the online gaming industry for some seven years now, the last two as a full- time affiliate. My introduction to the online gaming industry came about as a result of the manager of the IT department for the company I worked for in Bristol, England, leaving to take up the position of IT Controller with Ladbrokes International in Gibraltar. In the summer of 2000, he got in contact with me and offered me a position within the IT department with Ladbrokes. The opportunity to work for a well-established and respected company, thus furthering my career, with the added prospect of living abroad was too good to turn down and I subsequently took up my new role with Ladbrokes at the start of October 2000. You worked for Ladbrokes for several years in Gibraltar.What were the best parts of that the experience? What was living in Gibraltar like? Why did you leave Ladbrokes? What did you learn from Labrokes that you’ve taken with you into your work as an affiliate? I spent five enjoyable years with Ladbrokes. Highlights include the launch of Ladbrokes Casino at the end of 2000, the launch of Ladbrokes Poker in 2002, and in addition my first experience of the Grand National in 2001 from a bookmaker’s perspective — ensuring along with the rest of the IT team that the online sportsbook remained operational alongside the systems for telephone betting. Servicing a fully-manned call centre was something else — very challenging and rewarding. Gibraltar was a great place to work and live. My wife and I enjoyed our 6 years there and made some very good lifelong friends on the rock CONTINUED ON PAGE 45 >>