Allwyn North America Appoints Former Virginia Lottery Director Khalid Reede Jones as CEO

by Dimitri Dimitrov Published on June 3, 2026
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A clean corporate portrait of executive Khalid Reede Jones, framed within a light green circular border over a bright teal background layout.
Jones will oversee Allwyn’s United States B2B expansion strategies, including its ongoing private operating partnership with the Illinois Lottery.

Global lottery conglomerate Allwyn AG has finalized the executive appointment of Khalid Reede Jones as the new Chief Executive Officer of Allwyn North America.

Jones, who recently completed a high-profile deployment as the executive director of the Virginia Lottery, will officially assume his corporate duties on July 6, 2026, operating directly out of Allwyn’s centralized regional headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

Directing State Lottery Modernization Strategies

In his new capacity as regional CEO, Jones will focus on expanding Allwyn’s corporate footprint across the rapidly evolving United States lottery market. His responsibilities include directing support services for the Illinois Lottery, where Allwyn serves as the designated private operating partner. However, his executive mandate will explicitly exclude any oversight of PrizePicks, the high-volume daily fantasy sports brand in which Allwyn maintains a majority equity position.

Jones joins the enterprise following a distinguished two-decade career navigating regulatory enforcement, commercial gaming licensing, and private institutional investment. He directed the Virginia Lottery from April 2024 through March 2026, building upon prior senior executive experience with All American Licensing, The Kolier Group, SourceRock Partners, BuckleySandler, and Thrasher Funds.

Robert Chvátal, Global CEO of Allwyn, stated that Jones possesses an ideal combination of state regulatory knowledge and digital product experience required to scale the brand:

“Khalid brings a rare mix of regulatory insight, commercial experience and a genuine commitment to responsible growth. A digitally minded leader who understands the power of partnerships and innovation, I know his perspective and energy will be hugely valuable to our North American business.”

Accelerating Global Executive Onboarding and Corporate Redomiciliation

The appointment represents the latest milestone in Allwyn’s broader global recruitment campaign. While Jones directs North American expansion, recent executive additions have focused on optimizing the group’s European operations. In March, Allwyn appointed Katie Harbron as director of games for Allwyn UK, tasking her with scaling up the UK National Lottery’s interactive content portfolio.

This followed the January placement of Bridget Lea into the newly created role of managing director for retail, coming immediately after a major modernization overhaul of the National Lottery’s physical retail network last summer. Concurrently, the group onboarded Tatiana Jouanneau as group chief brand officer late last year to oversee global brand equity, alongside hiring former Betfred US chief executive Kresimir Spajic in August 2025 to lead its newly formed Allwyn Digital division.

The corporate onboarding campaign coincides with Allwyn finalizing its legal redomiciliation to Switzerland following its landmark merger with Greek lottery operator OPAP. Although Allwyn retains its core historical roots in the Czech Republic and has maintained its central operational headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland, since 2020, the corporate entity was previously domiciled in Luxembourg.

Following the completion of the post-merger integration, leadership finalized the cross-border conversion to bring legal structures into alignment with its physical headquarters. Despite the change in domicile, Allwyn AG will preserve its existing corporate name and maintain OPAP’s public listing on the Euronext Athens exchange.

Dimitri Dimitrov

Dimitri is an iGaming expert with nearly a decade of experience and a knack for crafting content that speaks directly to the iGaming crowd. He understands affiliate marketing, player psychology, and search algorithms, which enables him to write engaging, data-driven articles.

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