Sam Sadi

Early Ventures

Sadi entered the online gambling space at its earliest stage. In 1998, he founded Beteurope.com, one of the world’s first online sportsbooks. His background in mathematics and passion for sports shaped his decision to launch the venture just as the internet began to reshape consumer behaviour. It marked the beginning of a career defined by first-mover thinking and operational discipline.

Before that, he spent time in Turkey managing his family’s struggling textile business. While unrelated to iGaming, the experience shaped his leadership values — particularly his emphasis on transparency, direct accountability, and building resilient teams.

Industry Roles and Executive Progression

In 2003, Sadi joined bwin.party as Head of Product Management. He spent much of the following decade in senior product and operational roles, gaining experience across sportsbook strategy, platform development, and customer experience.

He later ran his own consultancy firm, Sport One, and served as owner of Business Channel, where he focused on digital growth and operational delivery. Between 2012 and 2016, he held additional leadership positions including Founding Partner at Trendee Europe and Director of Bwin Labels at bwin.party.

By 2016, Sadi had joined Gamesys as Director of Sportsbook, based in London. His work there focused on repositioning the company’s sportsbook product in competitive European markets. In 2019, he became CEO of Sports within Gamesys, shortly before taking over the newly independent LiveScore Group.

Leadership at LiveScore Group

As CEO, Sadi has restructured the group around three core brands: LiveScore (media and data), LiveScore Bet (multi-market sportsbook), and Virgin Bet (UK sportsbook). The central strategy is convergence — using real-time sports content as the entry point and betting as a monetisation layer within a closed ecosystem.

The group currently operates in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Nigeria. In 2023, it acquired Wonderlabz, a South Africa-based technology firm, to expand its in-house development capacity and support growth across African and Eastern European markets.

Sadi’s market approach is selective. He has publicly criticised the regulatory instability in the Netherlands and has avoided expansion into high-risk or high-cost territories like the United States. He has also distanced the group from speculative product areas such as blockchain or NFTs.

Performance and Growth

Under Sadi’s leadership, LiveScore Group has grown its annual revenue from approximately £10 million to over £80 million. Employee headcount has increased by nearly 30%, with major investments in internal tech, content operations, and product development.

He maintains a product-led culture, focused on long-term engagement rather than short-term acquisition. The company has also invested in AI tools to automate and personalise sports content at scale — especially in markets where editorial resources are limited.