Esports betting and entertainment company Esports Entertainment Group (EEG) has appointed Michael Villani as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Villani previously held the position on an interim basis since January of this year.

Villani first joined EEG in February 2021 as its Financial Controller before moving into the Interim CFO position, as well as working as the company’s Principal Financial Officer. He was appointed as Interim CFO to replace the outgoing Damian Matthews, who recently rejoined EEG as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Based in Malta, Esports Entertainment Group is an iGaming B2C operator and B2B aggregator and supplier of esports solutions and e-simulator content. Earlier this year, EEG sold its iGaming business Bethard for approximately €9.5m (~£8.45m) in an effort to reduce debt and focus on ‘core iGaming and esports assets’.

In a release, Alex Igelman, Chief Executive Officer of Esports Entertainment Group, commented: “We are pleased to formally appoint Michael as our Chief Financial Officer after serving as our Interim Chief Financial Officer since early January, as well as holding other key financial roles since becoming part of the Esports Entertainment team in 2021.

“We have witnessed Michael’s leadership and operational and financial skills first-hand as we have restructured the Company over the past several months, improving our balance sheet, divesting, or closing non-core business lines to streamline operations, and increasing operational efficiencies across the Company.”

“Michael is a valued member of our leadership team, and we look forward to continuing to work with him as we execute on our long-term strategy with a focus on growing long-term shareholder value.”