Brightstar Lottery is making major changes to its Global Lottery division. Long-serving CEO Renato Ascoli is stepping down, and Marco Tasso is being promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Leadership Transition Timeline

Ascoli departs on June 30, 2026, after 20 years with the Italian lottery solutions provider. That’s a proper run. He climbed through various senior roles along the way. Brightstar isn’t hanging about, though. Tasso takes up his newly created EVP and COO post on July 1, 2026. It’s a seamless handover, which says something about the company’s internal bench strength.

Tasso knows the outfit and the sector well. He’s already run Brightstar’s International and Italy Operations, and he’s got two decades under his belt across both B2C and B2B gaming. His background includes time at Northstar Lottery Group and Lottomatica, plus senior roles at IGT, which was Brightstar’s predecessor company.

Expanded Remit for Tasso

This new gig hands him oversight of all global lottery operations. We’re talking technology, product development, marketing, sales, supply chain management, customer support and field services. The lot. He reports directly to Brightstar CEO Vince Sadusky.

Brightstar pitched the reshuffle as part of a broader operational optimization strategy. Executive chair Marco Sala praised Ascoli’s work on the lottery product pipeline, technical infrastructure and commercial strategy. According to Sala, Ascoli drove real expansion and innovation.

Strategic Direction

Sadusky backed that up and waxed enthusiastic about Tasso’s appointment. The move, he suggested, positions Brightstar to sharpen its focus on growth, transformation and operational execution. Tasso’s experience should help build a more optimized lottery operating structure.

Leadership changes this size usually mean a company’s taking stock of its strategic priorities. Whether this reflects new product direction, market expansion, or simply planned succession, we’ll see. But promoting someone with Tasso’s B2B and B2C background hints that Brightstar wants to balance innovation with operational discipline.

What the team thinks

Philippa Ashworth says:

Baz raises an important point about continuity planning, but what really stands out here is the timing of Ascoli’s departure, which gives Brightstar a full six-month runway to ensure a smooth transition rather than a rushed handover. Tasso’s promotion to COO suggests the company is betting on internal talent development over external recruitment, a smart move that typically reduces execution risk during leadership changes. However, I’d be curious to know whether this reshuffle signals any broader strategic pivots for the Global Lottery division, particularly around digital expansion or regulatory compliance in emerging markets, as these tend to drive major executive reshuffles in the sector.