Interblock Appoints Cathryn Lai as Chief Product Officer to Lead Online and Product Strategy
Interblock has appointed Cathryn Lai as its new Chief Product Officer. In the role, she will lead the development of the company’s global product strategy and oversee its online business, working to advance a seamless omnichannel experience for players worldwide. The appointment took effect in July 2026. For a company whose reputation was built on the physical casino floor, the choice of product leader says as much about direction as the role itself.
Why This Interblock Appointment Matters Now
Interblock has been a fixture in luxury land-based gaming since 1989, credited with establishing electronic table games as a core category alongside slots and traditional table games. Its portfolio spans Stadium, Smart Pit, Standalone and Universal Cabinet platforms, and it has since moved into slots through the acquisition of Zuum Limited and launched AMUSE, an arcade-inspired category blending interactive play with real-money wagering. Against that land-based heritage, the company has stated it is extending its technology into online and remote environments. A senior product hire lands squarely at that pivot point.
What Cathryn Lai’s ETG and iGaming Role Actually Involves
Lai’s remit covers two things. The first is global product strategy across Interblock’s full portfolio, using player and operator insights to drive innovation and growth. The second is the online business, bringing Interblock’s gaming experiences into the digital space while building toward a unified omnichannel offering. She brings more than 15 years of gaming industry experience, having held leadership positions across product management, commercial, operations and marketing, with expertise spanning both land-based and digital gaming.
Why Interblock’s New CPO Signals a Serious iGaming Play
Here is the part operators care about. Lai’s recent path runs through digital and commercial gaming roles: Chief Operating Officer of Sands Digital at Las Vegas Sands, with full P&L responsibility and management of 400 team members; Chief Commercial Officer at OpenBet; and before that, senior general management of US digital iGaming and sports betting operations at SG Digital. That is not a land-based product background with a digital footnote. Read alongside Interblock’s stated online ambitions, the appointment looks less like a routine hire and more like the company placing product leadership in the hands of someone whose recent experience sits in the digital space.
Where Interblock’s Digital Ambitions Still Have to Prove Themselves
A leadership appointment is a statement of intent, not a delivered result. The source confirms the mandate and the background, but not timelines, product launches, or market targets for the online business. Interblock’s digital expansion is described as underway rather than complete, and the impact of any single executive takes time to show in a portfolio. The signal here is clear; the outcomes remain to be reported.
What Comes Next for Interblock’s Online Business?
The direction is clear even if the detail is not yet public. Interblock has put a product leader whose recent experience sits in digital gaming in charge of both its portfolio and its online business, at a point when the company says it wants to grow in that space. For a brand long defined by the physical floor, the more telling detail is not the name in the role but the kind of experience it chose to bring in: the appointment reads as a land-based specialist building toward a future that runs across both the floor and the screen.
Source: Interblock Gaming
