John Ford

John Ford is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Potent Systems LLC, a technology and services company dedicated to disrupting the online games industry.

He leads a team of experienced executives and software developers who previously created and operated the BAM Interactive Platform, whose B2C product, BetAmerica.com, became the fastest growing and largest independent real money betting site across the USA.

A licensed attorney, John was a partner at Eckert Seamans, a 200+ attorney law firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked with individuals, privately held firms, and multi-national publicly traded companies in a wide range of corporate legal matters, including gaming, asset-based financing, real estate development, land use, and corporate governance and compliance.

Later, John joined leisure industry leader Hilton Group PLC, the London-based FTSE 100 company, appointed as General Counsel and Executive Vice President at Ladbroke/USA, their U.S.-based subsidiary of Ladbroke, the legendary betting company. In addition to his role as a member of the Board of Directors, John managed all aspects of all legal matters for Ladbroke’s North American operations, which employed over 3,000 employees at twelve locations in several states, as well as the Province of Ontario, Canada. During his tenure, Ladbroke/USA launched the first licensed and regulated pari-mutuel wagering website in the United States, a project in which John was intimately involved, as the legal boundaries of wagering and the internet were first being addressed.

Upon Ladbroke’s withdrawal from North and South America, John formed a consulting firm and worked with domestic and foreign companies assisting senior management on a variety of initiatives, managing a broad spectrum of legal affairs, assessing and formulating strategic direction, and assisting in business management and development. He continued to further his respected expertise in an online lottery, sweepstakes, horse racing, play for fun, and real money gaming law, both from the software development side, as well as from the operating side. John worked extensively with both land-based and online racing and gaming operators and brings a unique perspective to both sides of the industry.

Seeing opportunity following the passage of federal legislation in 2006, Mr. Ford’s lengthy work in technology-oriented business initiatives, both from a legal and from the business side, prompted him to co-found BAM Software and Services LLC. At BAM Software, he grew a team that built and advanced a state-of-the-art interactive platform for real money games and gaming. Its flagship B2C online gaming site, BetAmerica.com, was sold to Churchill Downs in 2017.

He has now co-founded Potent Systems LLC, to shape and respond to the ever-evolving landscape of legal wagering and interactive real money games. Potent seeks to define the future of legal online wagering in the United States.