Mobile gambling expert joins Betfair

Mfuse founder and mobile gambling expert Charlie Palmer is on record as recommending that online gambling operators should treat mobile gambling as seperate business units with dedicated managers rather than as mere add-ons to existing operations, and he illustrated the point this week in joining Internet gambling giant Betfair as mobile operations chief.

Palmer brings considerable experience to Betfair’s in-house developed mobile operations, and he will be deploying this in further enhancements and the expansion of the betting group’s mobile channel and the integration of its online and mobile products.

“I look forward to developing an already good product into a stand out proposition,” said Palmer this week. “My remit will include developing Betfair’s peer-to-peer model and include more social media features for mobile. Mobile technology evolves very quickly and I aim to make betting on mobile an effortless process for Betfair customers.”

Palmer relinquished his role as commercial director at Mfuse earlier this year, and has 15 years of International experience in brand strategy, media and communications planning and business development, working within the design and gaming technology industries.

After completing a Master of Science degree from Cranfield University in the UK, he joined Opel GmbH (General Motors) in Germany as a design consultant where he implemented the use of concurrent CACD (computer-aided conceptual design) techniques, improving communication between engineering and conceptual design departments, resulting in greatly reduced design lead times.

Returning to the UK in 1998, Palmer set up the digital design and marketing consultancy ECRV Limited specialising in developing advanced modeling concepts, animation and marketing materials for the automotive industry. In 1999, joining the dot com bubble, he founded online search marketing company Formindex.com which became a leading automotive resource.

In 2000, Charles was one of the original employees of Lost Boys UK a Dutch new media company, working between Amsterdam, Berlin and London, and focusing on brand strategy, media, marketing, digital communications and business development. Highlights included mobile strategy for Orange ‘Brand Futures’ and a series of digital campaigns for BBC Worldwide.

In 2002 Palmer founded Mfuse, a mobile gambling technology firm in which he spearheaded the marketing, communication and business development side of the business throughout Europe. Working at Board level Charles was instrumental in the company’s strong growth, bringing in high profile clients including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, Gala Coral Group, Skybet, Paddypower and Betsson among others.