Chhabra became Stars Group’s Chief Corporate Development Officer in September 2017, and consequently CEO of Fox Bet in May 2019.
Chhabra suited the role perfectly. His experience from his time at William Hill was exactly what Stars Group was looking for, and the move made complete sense for both parties.
“Stars Group wanted to accelerate the development of their sports betting business and it was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse,” he says.
Chhabra could not have joined Stars Group and its US adventure at a better time, as PASPA was overturned shortly after Stars Group announced it was purchasing Sky Bet in April 2018.
He says: “The next project was really to leverage those assets to basically try and roll out a similar model to Sky Bet in the US.”
Not only was Sky Bet snapped up promptly by Stars Group, a deal was also struck with Fox shortly after. Fox tied up a deal with Stars Group for a number of reasons.
Chhabra explains: “Fox knew about Sky’s story and history, but they also focused heavily on live sport and live entertainment. The opportunity to partner with a sports betting business which understands media as a real way of enhancing the reach and engagement of sports assets was too good to turn down.”
It was around six months into the project of bringing Fox and Sky Bet together when it was suggested Chhabra should be the man to lead the entire operation. It made sense. Chhabra not only had the credentials, he had the hands-on experience of bringing together the US team at Fox.
He admits: “I was absolutely chuffed to be asked to take the job in all honesty, by both Fox and Stars. I had helped put everything together, so it was great to be recognised for my contribution.”
With the role comes great responsibility and despite all the graft which has already taken place, the hard work will be the launch itself. Speaking to Chhabra, there is certainly a sense a clear plan was already being orchestrated to achieve this, with the involvement from both Fox and Stars staff.
He says: “We need to make sure we are getting the integrations right and reaching Fox’s objectives. Here at Fox, we are looking to take staff based at Stars in Leeds and bring them over to LA, which is clearly a fantastic achievement for those who come and join us.”
Chhabra was speaking to Gambling Insider for the upcoming US CEO Special, due to be published in the September/October edition of the magazine. Click here to read when available.
