News in brief: Sportech; Celton Manx; 188BET; Titan; Microgame; Playtech...

Piers Pottinger, Sportech‘s non-executive chairman, has resigned with immediate effect. Senior independent non-executive director John Barnes will take over as acting chairman while Sportech searches for a replacement. CEO Ian Penrose said, “We are grateful to Piers for his stewardship over the last four years and he leaves us with our very best wishes for the future.”

Mike Stanton has been appointed head of business development at Celton Manx. Before joining the company, Stanton was country manager for Sure Cable & Wireless Isle of Man.

Online sportsbook provider 188BET has launched a new global website. The website offers revised navigation, new bet slip functionality and real time statistics.

French regulator ARJEL has awarded a license to online poker room Titan.fr. Its owner, French company The Nation Traffic SAS, also plans to launch Titan Partners, an affiliate program dedicated to its online poker room.

Italian network provider Microgame has acquired a minority stake in Network Media Services, from which it licensed its Egaming Affiliate System Software (EGASS) last month. The amount of the investment in the British company by Microgame was not disclosed.

Codere Interactiva has signed a deal to become a licensee and launch as an operator on Playtech‘s Italian bingo platform. This is the first online gaming initiative from Spanish-based gaming operator Codere, that already operates 13 major bingo halls in Italy. Playtech now has four Italian bingo operators on its platform.