Aston Villa legend dropped from bookmaker's advertising campaign
"We've received lots of complaints," he said.
But Mr Hogg stressed that he retained a good relationship with Merson.
"We like Paul a lot," he said. "I wouldn't want it to be seen in any way that we didn't want to work with Paul."
He said it was possible the firm would work with Merson over publicising an "anti problem-gambling message".
Merson, who is now best known as a football pundit on Sky Television, had been approached at a social event to take on the role.
