The CEO of Rank Group, John O’Reilly, is stepping down from his position into retirement, the company has announced. His official retirement date is slated for 29th January, though he is expected to contribute through the end of the 2025-26 financial year.
The company has appointed Chief Financial Officer Richard Harris as interim CEO as the search goes on for a replacement. Harris, who has previous stints at real estate agency Foxtons and supermarket chain Marks & Spencers in various roles, is also currently an executive director of Rank’s board.
Before his role at Rank, O’Reilly had worked as a non-executive director at William Hill, managing director of GVC’s Coral Interactive within the Gala Coral Group, and an executive director at Ladbrokes, where he spent 20 years of his career.
New Rank Chairman, John Ott, said of his exit: “On behalf of the board and everyone at Rank, I would like to express my sincere thanks to John for his leadership and passion for Rank. His extensive gambling industry knowledge and experience, as well as deep operational skills have combined to ensure that Rank is well positioned to build on the direction he established.
“In addition, he has contributed significantly to the betting and gaming industry for decades. We wish him all the very best.”
In a brief statement shared by Rank Group, O’Reilly said: “It has been a privilege to lead Rank for the past seven and a half years, and I am proud of all that we have accomplished in that time. I am pleased that Richard will now take Rank to the next stage of what I am sure is a bright future and wish the Group every success.”
O’Reilly considered a guiding hand through challenging times
In his time as CEO at Rank, he was responsible for charting a path through increasing land-based casino reform and a worldwide pandemic, guiding them back to profit after a slowdown due to Covid-19. He was also at the helm while the UK conducted a gambling review and white paper.
As a result of that review, the UK rolled out a mandatory levy on gambling operators in April 2025 to fund research, prevention and treatment for gambling harm, replacing the previous voluntary contribution of 0.1% with rates rising to as high as 1.1%. The same month, new consumer protections came into force, including a £5 cap on online slot stakes and a lower £2 limit for players under the age of 25.
He was a loud voice in opposition of the gambling tax hike in the build up to the government’s budget. Rachel Reeves has since unveiled the plans, which will increase the remote gaming duty to 40%. He had said at the time: “My plea to the Chancellor is that by providing a pro-business tax environment for, quite rightly, highly regulated businesses like ours, we can continue on a growth trajectory, delivering the ear-marked investment which will create jobs in our towns and cities.
“We want to be part of the growth solution for UK plc rather than sink into a doom-loop of club closures and job losses.”
Critical time for Rank as stocks continue to slide
The company has endured a tough period. In the past three months, the company’s stock has slid 25%, despite its relatively strong financial results.
The company was also subject to a £6.2 million Spanish payment fraud late last year. The incident was reported on Monday 22nd December and affected Rank’s Spanish-facing brands Yo and Enracha, forcing the company to write it off as an exceptional item in its 2025-26 financial results. The incident did not go down well with investors, causing a sharp down in the company’s stock price in early morning trading.
At the time, the company said: “The group has reported the matter to the relevant law enforcement agencies and is supporting their investigations, as well as carrying out its own internal investigation with the help of an external law firm.”
The group’s Spanish business has reported some mixed results of late. In the third quarter of last year, its digital business Yo suffered with some platform capacity issues, which was blamed for its 1% year-on-year drop in net gaming revenue. However, the nine Enracha venues in Spain delivered NGR growth of 5% during the same period.
O’Reilly’s departure leaves Rank navigating a period of leadership change amid regulatory pressure, market volatility and investor scrutiny. With Harris stepping in on an interim basis, the group now faces the challenge of restoring market confidence while executing its long-term strategy in an increasingly constrained UK gambling landscape.
