Merkur Casino appoints Irina Ruf as Managing Director International

Merkur Casino announced Irina Ruf has assumed the role of Managing Director International with immediate effect. The subsidiary of the Eastern Westphalian Gauselmann Group operates around 800 arcades in Germany and across Europe. 

As the new managing director, Irina Ruff is responsible for securing and growing the existing markets as well as for driving forward new acquisitions in the international arena. Ruf is thus stepping into the role of Stefan Bruns, who will represent the Sports Betting and Online Gaming business segment on the Management Board of the Gauselmann Group. 

Dieter Kuhlmann, Gauselmann Group Management Board member with responsibility for Gaming Operations, commented: “We are delighted that in Irina Ruf we have been able to win a new managing director with extensive expertise and experience in particular in International Gaming Operations.”

Hailing from Bremen, Irina Ruf looks back on an almost 15-year career with the group, most recently as Executive Operations Director International at Merkur Casino GmbH. “Based on her wide-ranging career path to date, Ruf brings to the job all the prerequisites to successfully continue and expand Merkur Casino’s international business activities,” Kuhlmann added. 

For her part, Irina Ruf said: “I am looking forward to developing new geographical markets and implementing exciting projects together with my team. One particular focus will be on developing the online markets.”

The new head of Merkur Casino further said the goal under her new position will be to maintain the company's International position "and to confidently rise to the ever-growing demands."

The new appointment follows an announcement this same week that, as of April 1, Stefan Bruns will head up the Sports Betting and Online Gaming business segment as a new member of the Gauselmann Group's Management Board. The appointment seeks to strengthen the land-based and online sports betting offering, strategic expansion of virtual slot gaming and advance the globalization of these two verticals. 

Paul Gauselmann, company founder and Chairman of the Management Board, commented: “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. Sports betting and online gaming are promising prospective markets in which Burns will further grow and strengthen our business activities,” he added.