“I am delighted to welcome Stefan Bruns, who has held management positions in the company for nine years, as a new member of the Management Board. His experience and expertise are excellent prerequisites for successfully managing the newly created Sports Betting & Online Gaming business segment,” explains Paul Gauselmann, company founder and Chairman of the Management Board. “Sports betting and online gaming are promising prospective markets in which Mr Bruns will further grow and strengthen our business activities. I wish him a lucky hand and every success in carrying out his important and responsible tasks.”

Stefan Bruns studied Economics at Osnabrück University, majoring in production, marketing and information systems for business. Following his studies, the business administration graduate headed up Marketing, Training and CAD Sales at the software provider 2020 Technologies before being appointed Management Board Chairman of I2S Business AG in 2002. Two years later, he made a career move to Harting Systems in Espelkamp, where he served as Managing Director for ten years.

Stefan Bruns started his career with the Gauselmann Group on 1 April 2014. After holding various management positions at the adp Merkur subsidiary, he was appointed to the management of the fellow subsidiary Merkur Casino in February 2017. This position came with responsibility for all of Merkur Casino’s international activities – including operation of more than 450 gaming arcades as well as online and live game casinos in other European countries with over 4,800 employees. In future, this task will fall to Irina Ruf, who has held the position of Executive Operations Director International at Merkur Casino for the past several years.

“I would like to express my thanks for the trust placed in me and I look forward to tackling the challenging tasks that lie ahead,” said Stefan Bruns following his official appointment to the Management Board. “The focus will be on the strategic expansion of the online and land-based sports betting offerings as well as on consolidating all worldwide online gaming activities. Our goal is to create sustainable structures and products in order to consistently expand our market shares in the sports betting and online gaming markets and to successfully position the Merkur brand for the long term.”

Stefan Bruns is 52 years old, lives in Barnstorf in Lower Saxony and is married with four children. In his free time, he is involved in local politics as deputy mayor and councillor of his home town.