As a wicketkeeper at Oxford, Dominic Harrison came close to being made a cricket Blue. But the private equity backers of Gala Coral Group, which named Mr Harrison as chief executive yesterday, will be hoping that he is more than simply a safe pair of hands.

The promotion of Mr Harrison, who takes over from Neil Goulden next month, comes at a time when the group is facing unprecedented trading conditions. While its Coral bookmaking arm has experienced mixed fortunes, its bingo and casino operations have been hit by a cocktail of woes, including the smoking ban, the scrapping of lucrative big jackpot gaming machines, soaring costs and fragile consumer spending.

Earlier this year, some of its private equity backers wrote down the value of their holdings in Gala by about 50 per cent. Then over the summer its investors – principally Candover, Cinven and Permira – injected £125 million of new equity into the company to relieve the pressure on its banking covenants.

That refinancing was led by Mr Harrison and he is said to have been the architect of the new five-year plan that accompanied it.

His appointment is part of a wider reshuffle at Gala that was described by one analyst as a “changing of the guard”. John Kelly, who founded the group in 1997 with a buy-in of Bass’s bingo division, will be stepping down as chairman in a year’s time and Mr Goulden has been asked to fill his shoes.

Until then, Mr Goulden will be executive deputy chairman, focusing on developing its international operations – it has a presence in Italy and China – and dealings with regulatory and governmental bodies.

Mr Harrison, 45, who is married with three children, was head boy at Ampleforth College, then studied modern history at University College, Oxford. He qualified as an accountant with KPMG in 1988 before joining GrandMet then Bass in a variety of marketing and operational roles.

He went on to become commercial director at Ladbrokes, joining Gala in 2004 as trading director and playing a leading role a year later in the purchase of Coral. He became chief operating officer last year. Mr Harrison, who has also played golf and rugby to a good standard, described the management changes as being part of a “new chapter” in Gala’s history.

The group’s private equity backers will be hoping that new chapter ends with a return of benign trading conditions and an initial public offering.