People news 26 September 2013
The latest people moves from the egaming industry in the last seven days (20 September to 26 September 2013)
Winamax managing director Frichet to stand down
Canel Frichet to leave the French poker operator at the end of September
Winamax managing director Canel Frichet is to stand down from her position at the end of this month.
Frichet joined the company as chief operating officer in August 2007 and became managing director in 2010.
Under her management Winamax became the leading operator for cash-game poker traffic in the French market and added a free-to-play poker offering for US residents to its portfolio in October last year.
“I want to sincerely thank you for your collaboration, Winamax is now a top leader in the market,” she said in a brief email announcing her departure.
Unibet creates head of new channels role
Swedish-listed operator Unibet has appointed Robert Smith to the newly created role of head of new channels, eGaming Review has learned.
Smith, who previously spent more than seven years as head of technology and infrastructure at financial spread betting company ETX Capital, is to lead Unibet’s mobile, tablet and television divisions as part of a strategy to increase integration across the departments.
Smith joined Unibet shortly after the firm released its financial results for the three months ended 30 June which showed strong growth in mobile revenueswhich accounted for 19% of gross winning revenues, up from 8% in Q2 2012.
His appointment follows the departure of Unibet’s head of mobile Robert Jenkins, who eGR understands will not be replaced but whose responsibilities will instead fall under Smith’s remit.
Seven days in people news:
Betfair to boost development with new hires
Betfair is looking to boost its software development capabilities with the hire of 20 new staff, including a dozen at its London office.
The London-listed operator is recruiting developers with experience in Java and Linux programming, as the firm continues to invest in technology projects including its integrated sportsbook platform.
Betfair released its fixed-odds sportsbook, developed using OpenBet software, in the UK last May and is in the process of integrating it onto the company’s existing exchange betting platform. Bettors can switch between exchange and fixed-odds products using a tab above the market screen.
Betfair is believed to be working on combining the two products into a single offering, with rival operator Ladbrokes also thought to be developing a similar product following its acquisition of BetDaq.
Non-exec duo depart bwin.party board
Bwin.party has announced two non-executive directors, Tim Bristow and Geoff Baldwin, have resigned from the company’s board.
The resignations are effective immediately, with bwin.party chairman Simon Duffy confirming the changes to be in line with the company’s intention to reduce the size of its executive board.
“We continue to review the composition of the board and this process may result in further changes to the board later in the year,” he added.
Bristow had served on the Gibraltar-licensed company’s board for more than six years, having joined the board of PartyGaming in 2007. He continued after PartyGaming’s merger with bwin Interactive Entertainment in March 2011, combining his duties with his role as CEO of telecommunications provider Gibtelecom.
Baldwin was appointed to the board in July 2011 having been nominated under the terms of the relationship agreement involving bwin.party, and two of its largest shareholders Emerald Bay Limited and Stinson Ridge Limited.