Aristocrat Leisure Names Dafne Guisard CEO Effective April 2027

Aristocrat Leisure will install Dafne Guisard as chief executive officer in April 2027. She steps into the role from her current position as Chief Commercial Officer for the European, Middle East and Asia region.

Guisard served as Chief Operating Officer at Entain, operator of Ladbrokes Coral, from January 2025 to February 2026. She previously held senior roles at Kraft Heinz and Anheuser-Busch InBev. "I am deeply honoured to be chosen to lead this great business as CEO, and am excited at the opportunities ahead," Guisard said.

Changing of the Guard at Aristocrat

Trevor Croker has held the top position at Aristocrat since 2017. He will depart in April 2027 and begin retirement. Croker oversaw nine years of expansion that included the 2024 acquisition of Israeli gambling technology firm NeoGames for $1bn (£750m).

The ASX-listed company ranks as the largest in the gambling industry by market capitalisation, valued at AU$38.5bn (£19.63bn) at the time of the announcement. The NeoGames transaction integrated the BtoBet B2B sportsbook, the AspireCore betting and casino content platform, and the Pariplay aggregation platform. Those assets originated from NeoGames' 2022 purchase of Aspire Global.

"It has been a privilege to lead Aristocrat through a decade of significant change and opportunity," Croker remarked. "By maintaining focus on our competitiveness, with strong organic investment to grow our share with our customers and disciplined M&A to accelerate strategic opportunities and capabilities, we have further extended Aristocrat's track record of high-quality growth and positioned the business with exciting optionality for the future."

According to SBC News, the appointment marks a deliberate handoff from the executive who steered the company through its most recent round of technology-driven acquisitions.