Henry Birch, the former boss of Rank Group, is among the candidates vying to run Entain, the FTSE-100 owner of Ladbrokes.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Birch is one of a small number of candidates being considered by Entain to replace Jette Nygaard-Andersen as its permanent chief executive.
The recruitment process comes at a challenging time for Entain, which has been beset by boardroom upheaval and regulatory difficulties in various international markets. Its stock has halved in the last year, leaving it with a market capitalization of just under £5bn [$6.3bn].
This weekend, sources close to the company confirmed that Mr Birch was a serious contender for the post, although they said others were also in contention.