The board of Danske Spil has elected Karsten Fogh Holanng as inbound Chief Executive of ‘Licens Spil’ (licensed games) – the sportsbook and online gambling unit of Danske Spil, Denmark’s state-owned gambling operator.

Holanng, who has served as Chief Information Officer of Licens Spil since 2016, will take leadership of Danske Spil’s online gambling unit in February of 2022.

The appointment will see Holanng replace Niels Erik Folmann, who announced that he would be ending his nine-year tenure as CEO of Licens Spil earlier this month after choosing to join Danish theme park operator Tivoli as the company’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Holanng will be tasked with leading the performance of Danske Spil’s online gambling portfolio, which includes its Oddset, Tips, Casino, Bingo and Poker verticals.  

Nikolas Lyhne-Knudsen, Group CEO of Danske Spil, expressed that Holanng is the logical candidate to succeed Folmann as leader of Licens Spil.

“Karsten has in-depth knowledge of the business and our partners, and he has delivered great results as IT officer at Danske Spil,” Lyhne-Knudsen noted.

“I am pleased that we can draw even more on Karsten’s extensive commercial and managerial experience in the role of director of Danske Licens Spil.”

Elsewhere, Danske Spil will continue its executive search to replace Pernille Mehl, who will end her six year tenure as CEO of Danske Spil Lotteries at the end of November, joining a yet to be disclosed business as Group CEO.   

Concluding Danske Spil’s statement, Lyhne-Knudsen thanked Niels Erik Folmann for his leadership of  Licens Spil: “Niels, together with his entire strong team, has, among other things, succeeded in maintaining our market leader position and balancing our approach to responsibility with strong, financial results. 

“We owe Niels a big thank you for that, and I wish Niels all the best of luck in the new job.”