Gray named as new BoyleSports chief executive

Conor Gray is to succeed his father-in-law John Boyle as chief executive of bookmakers BoyleSports.

Boyle, who opened his first betting shop in 1982, took over as chief executive for a second time in 2012 and is set to stay on as chairman.

Gray has been with BoyleSports for 16 years, having joined the company’s branch in Baggot Road, Dublin as a trainee cashier in 2001.

Two years later he moved to the information and media department at BoyleSports' headquarters in Dundalk, County Louth and for the next decade held executive roles in a number of departments including IT, trading and digital.

After a spell in Asia overseeing relationship development work he returned to head office in 2014 as chief operating officer.

Boyle said: "After 35 years building BoyleSports from one shop into Ireland’s largest independent bookmaker, it would not be possible to step back if I were not confident I was handing the reins to the right person.

"In Conor I am confident I have a successor who can bring not only experience and expertise but also a passion for all things related to bookmaking in general and BoyleSports in particular."

BoyleSports have been regularly linked to expansion into the British betting shop market.

Last year they bid for the 360 betting shops Ladbrokes and Coral were made to sell for their merger to get approval from the competition authorities, but were passed over in favour of Betfred and Stan James – now known as Megabet.

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