IGT's player marketing director leaves
Peter Laverick joins BAM Software and Services after more than two years at gaming supplier.
IGT’s director of player marketing Peter Laverick has left the company to join online pari-mutual wagering and fantasy sports operator BAM Software and Services (Bamsas).
Laverick, who spent more than two years at IGT based out of its San Francisco office, joins as Bamsas’ director of marketing responsible for the promotion of its real-money gaming sites BetAmerica.com and Fanex.com. Both sites operate in the regulated areas of online horserace wagering and real-money fantasy sports betting respectively. Bamsas employs 33 staff at its offices in San Francisco and Vancouver.
Prior to joining IGT Laverick held the position of marketing director at bookmaker Victor Chandler for more than six years, and previously had a two-and-a-half year spell at Littlewoods Gaming in a similar role.
Laverick said he left IGT on “very good terms” and that the move was sparked by his desire to work in a regulated area of US online gambling, rather than waiting for relevant legislation to pass in order for IGT to be active in that field. IGT was among the first companies to secure an online poker software provider licence in Nevada, however multiple attempts from US politicians to force through a federal egaming bill have failed.
IGT has recently been at the centre of a proxy battle with one of its key shareholders criticising the gaming supplier’s directors for allegedly neglecting its core slot machine business in favour of investing in online and social gaming and “allowing” its share price to fall as a result.
In a letter to fellow IGT shareholders filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday this week, Ader Management, led by analyst-turned-investor Jason Ader and former IGT chairman Charles Mathewson, claimed poor strategic decision making has led to the company’s share price falling by more than a fifth in the past three years.
Along with Mathewson and two others linked to New York-based investment firm Ader Management, Ader had put himself forward to join IGT’s board of directors before withdrawing his nomination earlier this month. IGT refused to support the nominations claiming Mathewson’s motivations for directorship are the result of his “long-running dispute” with IGT since his retirement in 2003.
Ader Management claims to own more than eight million shares of IGT common stock, or approximately 3% of total IGT shares.