Shay Segev rose through Playtech and Entain before taking over DAZN, the Blavatnik-owned sports streamer now acquiring EverPass Media and its NFL Sunday Ticket commercial rights. His career runs through the same Israeli gambling-tech cluster as Playtech and 888.
Israeli Sports Business & Investment | Olam.business
Shay Segev, an Israeli executive who rose through Playtech and led the FTSE 100 gambling group Entain, has been CEO of DAZN since 2022, steering the Leonard Blavatnik-owned sports streamer through an aggressive US expansion that in August 2026 included agreeing to acquire EverPass Media, the exclusive commercial distributor of NFL Sunday Ticket to bars and restaurants.
Who Is Shay Segev?
Shay Segev is an Israeli business executive who serves as Group CEO of DAZN, the London-headquartered sports streaming platform owned by Len Blavatnik's Access Industries. He built his career inside the Israeli-founded online gambling-technology industry before moving into sports media.
At a Glance
| Born | 1976, Israel |
| Education | B.Sc. in Computer Science, Tel Aviv University (2001); MBA, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (2005) |
| Military service | Computer engineer in the Israel Defense Forces before his civilian career |
| Playtech era | Joined Videobet, a Playtech subsidiary, in 2006; rose to COO of the Playtech group by 2011 and later CEO of its retail subsidiary |
| GVC Holdings / Entain | Joined as COO in 2016, managing the bwin.party merger and the Ladbrokes Coral integration; became CEO in July 2020, renamed the company Entain, and grew it into a roughly £10 billion FTSE 100 group. Rejected a $11 billion takeover approach from joint-venture partner MGM Resorts in 2021 |
| DAZN | Joined as co-CEO in June 2021 alongside DAZN co-founder James Rushton; became sole Group CEO in January 2022 |
| DAZN ownership | Owned by Access Industries, the investment vehicle of Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who has invested more than $6.7 billion in DAZN since 2016 |
| EverPass acquisition | DAZN agreed in August 2026 to acquire EverPass Media, the exclusive commercial (bar and restaurant) distributor of NFL Sunday Ticket, expanding DAZN's US commercial footprint |
From Playtech to Entain: Building Inside Israeli Gambling-Tech
Segev's career began at Comverse Technology in 1998, managing mobile-messaging R&D, before he moved into the online gambling-technology industry in 2006 at Videobet, a subsidiary of the Israeli-founded Playtech. He rose to Chief Operating Officer of the Playtech group itself by 2011 and later ran its retail division as CEO — the same Playtech built by Teddy Sagi, now a fellow entry in Olam's coverage of the Israeli gambling-technology cluster.
In 2015 he moved to Gala Coral Group as chief strategy officer, and in 2016 joined GVC Holdings — the London-listed sports betting and gaming group, since renamed Entain — as Chief Operating Officer. He managed the integration of the bwin.party acquisition and later the Ladbrokes Coral merger, and helped form the BetMGM joint venture with MGM Resorts. In July 2020, Segev succeeded Kenny Alexander as CEO of GVC after Alexander's 13-year tenure, renamed the company Entain plc, and set out a growth strategy that grew the business into a FTSE 100 company valued at roughly £10 billion. In 2021, MGM Resorts made an unsolicited $11 billion approach to acquire Entain outright; Segev and the Entain board rejected it.
Why Did Segev Move to DAZN?
In January 2021, Segev announced he would leave Entain to become co-CEO of DAZN, the sports streaming platform controlled by Access Industries, the investment vehicle of Sir Leonard Blavatnik. He joined in June 2021 alongside DAZN co-founder James Rushton, who continued to oversee local-market growth, rights and content. In January 2022, DAZN consolidated its leadership structure and named Segev sole Group CEO.
DAZN traces its roots to Perform Group, founded in 2007, and launched under the DAZN brand in August 2016. Blavatnik has invested more than $6.7 billion in the platform since 2016, funding an aggressive rights-buying strategy across European football, boxing, and other properties, while the business has posted large annual losses — a net loss of roughly $1.4 billion on $2.9 billion of revenue in 2023, by Blavatnik's own account to the Financial Times, with revenue expected to cross $6 billion by 2025 aided in part by Saudi-linked investment interest. Segev has framed the string of recent acquisitions as advancing DAZN's ambition to become "the global home of sports."
What Did DAZN Acquire From EverPass?
On August 26, 2026, DAZN announced an agreement to acquire EverPass Media, the exclusive commercial distributor of NFL Sunday Ticket to bars, restaurants and other US venues. EverPass was founded in 2023 by 32 Equity — the NFL's strategic investment arm — and RedBird Capital Partners, with TKO Group Holdings joining as an investor in 2024; all three become minority shareholders in DAZN as part of the deal. Following completion, EverPass will be rebranded DAZN for Business, and its CEO Alex Kaplan will take on an expanded role within DAZN. The deal builds on DAZN's other recent US moves, including partnerships with Top Rank Boxing and Premier Boxing Champions, and follows a pattern of Blavatnik-backed dealmaking aimed at establishing DAZN across both consumer and commercial US sports viewing.
Why Does Segev Matter to the Israeli Business Story?
Segev's career sits inside the same Israeli-built gambling and gaming-technology pipeline that produced Teddy Sagi's Playtech, the Shaked and Ben-Yitzhak brothers' 888 Holdings, and Shalom Meckenzie's SBTech. Where Sagi built platform infrastructure and Meckenzie built a sportsbook engine, Segev's path ran through operating leadership — COO and then CEO roles inside two of the sector's largest public companies — before crossing from gambling into adjacent sports media at DAZN. It is a less-covered but structurally similar export: Israeli operating talent, trained inside the gambling-technology industry, now running the consumer-facing infrastructure of global sports distribution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Shay Segev?
Shay Segev is an Israeli business executive who has been Group CEO of DAZN since January 2022, having previously served as CEO of the FTSE 100 gambling group Entain and COO of Playtech.
Who owns DAZN?
DAZN is owned by Access Industries, the investment vehicle of British-American billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who has invested more than $6.7 billion in the platform since 2016.
Did Segev work in gambling technology?
Segev spent 2006 to 2015 rising through Playtech, the Israeli-founded gambling software company, becoming COO of the group before moving to GVC Holdings (later Entain) in 2016.
What did DAZN acquire in 2026?
In August 2026, DAZN agreed to acquire EverPass Media, the exclusive commercial distributor of NFL Sunday Ticket to US bars and restaurants, expanding DAZN's US commercial footprint under Segev's leadership.
Did MGM Resorts try to acquire Entain?
Yes. In 2021, MGM Resorts made an unsolicited $11 billion offer to acquire Entain, its BetMGM joint-venture partner. Segev and the Entain board rejected the approach.
More From Israeli Sports Business & Investment
- Playtech: Teddy Sagi's B2B Empire
- Shalom Meckenzie on SBTech and DraftKings
- 888 Holdings, Now Evoke plc
מי הוא שי שגב?
שי שגב, מנכ"ל DAZN מאז 2022, התקדם בקריירה שלו דרך Playtech ו-Entain (לשעבר GVC Holdings) לפני שהצטרף לפלטפורמת שידורי הספורט הבריטית בבעלות לן בלווטניק. באוגוסט 2026 הובילה DAZN לרכישת EverPass Media, המפיצה הקמעונאית הבלעדית של NFL Sunday Ticket לברים ומסעדות בארה"ב.
The Olam Editorial Team | Israeli Sports Business & Investment
