People news 23 July 2015
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (17 July to 23 July 2015)
Bwin.party’s head of poker Haas to depart
Jeffrey Haas will leave the operator at the end of the month to explore other opportunities
Bwin.party’s director of poker Jeffrey Haas will step down from his role later this month to explore other opportunities, eGaming Review can reveal.
Haas joined bwin.party in 2013 from PokerStars with CEO Norbert Teufelberger tasking him with halting the decline of bwin.party’s poker product and restoring it to its previous lofty position in the market.
“For the last two years I have focused primarily on our US business, positioning bwin.party to benefit from what we hoped would be a steadily-expanding US regulated online gaming market,” Haas told eGR.
“We have done well by securing a partnership in Pennsylvania, making progress in several other states, and strengthening our existing national partnerships with MGM & Boyd,” he added.
mFortune moves to new six-floor HQ after doubling head count
InTouch Games, the parent company of mFortune, is moving to a new six-floor head office after doubling staff numbers and recording 122% revenue growth in the past 12 months.
Current revenues from the business, which operates mobile casino and bingo brand mFortune, are believed to be in the region of £40m, up 122% from the last reported figure of £18m in the 12 months ended June 2014.
The firm, which also operates mobile casino Pocketwin, reported a head count of 66 employees in its annual results but this has since risen to over 120 on the back of heavy investment in its product team.
Seven days in people news:
NYX Gaming names new marketing chief
NYX Gaming Group has appointed former Betsson chief commercial officer Huw Thomas as the egaming supplier’s new chief corporate development and marketing officer.
Thomas, who started his new role at the London-based firm this week, has been handed responsibility for leading NYX Gaming’s external marketing efforts following a five-year stint in various senior roles at Betsson.
He was originally hired by the Malta-headquartered operator as head of casino before leading a seven-month assignment to launch a new online gaming operations hub for Betsson in India.
CEO Lee Fenton on the new look Gamesys
Gamesys’ new chief executive Lee Fenton told eGaming Review it was business as usual at the London-based gaming firm despite a new-look management team, with founder Noel Hayden still “custodian of the long-term vision”.
Fenton was promoted from chief operating officer after chief exec Noel Hayden moved to executive chairman following the resignation of chairman Roger Devlin, with director of gaming operations Robeson Reeves stepping up to the COO role.
However, Fenton told eGR the management reshuffle “doesn’t signal any change” in the Gamesys business model, with the firm committed to finding new opportunities in the market.
William Hill Online appoints new CFO
William Hill Online has appointed James Davies as its new chief financial officer (CFO) to replace the outgoing CFO Cathal McCarthy.
Davies joins the UK operator from home improvement retailer Kingfisher where he previously held roles including commercial finance director and global finance director for its sourcing & offer division.
Prior to Kingfisher Davies also worked at UBM and Deutsche Bank, and replaces McCarthy who has worked at William Hill for nearly 14 years.