SOURCE: www.thelocal.se

Svenska Spel CEO Jesper Kärrbrink has decided to step down following consultations with the company’s board.

“It has become clear lately that my ideas about how Svenska Spel should be run don’t agree with the image held by the owners. Therefore I have, in consultation with the board, come to an agreement that the best course of action in this situation is for the board to find a replacement for me,” he said in a statement.

Newly chosen Svenska Spel board chair Margareta Winberg issued a statement expressing her regrets over Kärrbrink’s decision to step down as head of Sweden’s state gaming monopoly.

Kärrbrink doesn’t share the owners’ fundamental attitudes about how the company should be managed, said Winberg.

She added that the search for a new CEO has already begun and that treasurer Anders Hägg will serve as temporary CEO until further notice.

Kärrbrink is set to receive severance pay of 2.88 million kronor ($487,000), the equivalent of one year’s salary. He has also signed an agreement not to work for a competing company for one year, reported Winberg.

Discussions about Kärrbrink’s future began shortly after Winberg took over as board chair on Wednesday of last week.

“It was in relation to the change in the board chair. It became very clear, from the side of the owners, that they wanted a different direction. And that was also a reason for the change in chairperson,” Winberg said to the TT news agency.

More responsible gaming and a cautionary approach will be important ingredients for the new CEO’s assignment.

According to Winberg, the board made a final decision on Kärrbrink’s fate on Monday morning following several days of discussions with him.