People round-up 15/03/2012
A round up of industry moves from the last week (9 March to 15 March 2011).
Spanish regulator resigns
Spanish regulator resigns just weeks ahead of proposed market opening.
Juan Carlos Alfonso Rubio, the deputy general director for the Spanish regulatory authority has left his role with immediate effect.
Alfonso, who had served as deputy general director since March last year, had been responsible for assessing licence applications submitted by 62 operators and meeting deadlines in the run-up to the opening the market that has been delayed until thre end of this month or the beginning of April.
However, according to a local source close to the matter, Alfonso’s departure could now see the process delayed even further as member’s of Spain’s new right-wing government seek a replacement. “This now creates a situation of uncertainty that we could do without in the run-up to regulating the market,” he said.
Sacha Michaud, president of the Spanish operator association Jdigital, disagreed, claiming the licensing process was so advanced meant that there was not likely to be more than a delay of several weeks:
WorldSpreads CEO resigns
Conor Foley has resigned as chief executive of financial spread betting operator WorldSpreads Group, with Roger Hynes, CEO of WorldSpreads Limited until July 2010, in talks to take over the role on an interim basis.
Foley’s resignation, despite a 60% year-on-year increase in transactions and active client numbers rising 35% for the 12 months ending 31 January 2012, comes after the group predicted an annual loss in a trading update.
These improvements failed to translate into a growth in revenues, however with Foley commenting at the time: “Market conditions since 1 January 2012 have been such that, whilst transaction volumes have been high, revenues have not increased at the same pace.”
Hills CEO receives £930k bonus
William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping (pictured) was awarded a bonus of £930,000 last year, bringing his total pay packet up to more than £1.7m for 2011.
Chief financial officer Neil Cooper was awarded a bonus of £428,640 on top of a basic salary of £370,000, increasing his total pay-packet by 57%. Topping’s increase was just 3.8% year-on-year.
The CEO’s basic pay increased by 11.1% year-on-year to £600,000, following on from a 13.7% rise over the previous 12 months. Last year’s increase sparked a “rebellion” from shareholders at the 2011 AGM, with one third of them voting against the increase.
32Red appoints new non-exec director
Former Ladbrokes development director David Bowen has joined the board of 32Red as a non-executive director.
Bowen, who also spent time on the board of Ladbrokes, arrives with nearly 40 years of experience in the betting and gaming industry.
32Red chief executive Ed Ware said: “David joins 32Red at an exciting stage of its development. His substantial experience and knowledge of the gaming sector will be of great value to the company going forward and we look forward to his involvement going forward.”
Okada’s dispute with Wynn returns to court
Former Wynn vice chairman Kazuo Okada has returned to court in Las Vegas in the hope that he will be granted the right to inspect the company’s books over its HK$1m (£81.4m) pledge to the University of Macau last year.
Following a long-running dispute with the land-based casino operator, Okada’s 20% stake in the company was forcibly redeemed by Wynn after allegations that he was “unsuitable”.
Okada was also stripped of his vice-chairmanship after allegations that he violated US anti-corruption laws with a US$110,000 payment to Philippines gaming regulators.
Zynga director of product management Curtis Lee has left the social games developer to join Groupon. He had been with the company since 2009 following spells with Youtube, Google and Skype.
Email any new moves to t.victor@egrmagazine.com with the subject line ‘eGR People Moves’.