DAZN has announced the appointment of Sandeep Tiku as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who will spearhead the global OTT sports media provider’s development of its much-anticipated proprietary sportsbook platform. 

An industry figurehead, Tiku joins the DAZN executive leadership team from Entain Plc, where he formally served as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and executive board director of the FTSE100 gambling group.

A key member of Entain’s leadership team, Tiku is credited with having led the back-to-back merger integrations of bwin.party Entertainment and Ladbrokes Coral onto Entain’s technology platform – overseeing a defining project that saw Entain establish its day-to-day operations servicing over 30 regulated markets.

Shay Segev, Chief Executive of DAZN, who formerly worked with Tiku at Entain, deemed the appointment as critical to DAZN’s future ambitions.

 “Having worked alongside Sandeep for many years at Entain, I know that he is an exceptional and visionary technologist and the right person to lead DAZN’s technology teams,”  Segev commented.

“He will be invaluable as we expand our offering with even more ways to entertain and engage sports fans and forge ahead with transforming the global sports market.”  

Tiku’s appointment follows the launch of DAZN X – the media group’s innovation hub that is tasked with building the firm’s proprietary sportsbook platform that will be merged with DAZN’s existing OTT service.

The launch of DAZN’s sportsbook follows a reinvestment in the company that targets becoming the leading platform for all live sports engagements.

“To join a company like DAZN that has boundless ambitions and puts the customer at the heart of everything it does is fantastic. With their vision and my tech experience, the potential is phenomenal,” Tiku said

“I look forward to working with Shay and the global technology teams to grow DAZN’s platform as a true destination for sports fans across the world.”