People news 24 May 2012
A round up of industry moves from the last week (18 May to 24 May 2012).
Exclusive: Brady leaves bwin.party
Bwin.party’s group commercial director of bingo leaves to work on other projects.
Bwin.party’s commercial director for bingo Michael Brady (pictured, with Cashcade financial director Mark Segal) has resigned from his role to pursue other interests, eGaming Review has learned.
Brady, who is rumoured to be working on a project in the social gaming sector, steps down after around two and a half years with Cashcade, initially re-joining the business as overseas marketing and business development manager, having begun his career at the company in 2000.
He was then promoted to commercial director for bingo following founder Simon Collins’ move to egaming venture capital fund NewGame Capital “ a reshuffle which also saw co-founder Noel Rowse replace Patrick Southon as managing director before his promotion to group director of bingo following the bwin.party merger. Rowse then left his role in January this year, and was replaced by former managing director of bwin.party marketing Golan Shaked.
Following Brady’s departure, only finance director Mark Segal remains from the Cashcade team which sold the business to PartyGaming for an initial consideration of £71.9m in 2009.
Cormac McCarthy new Paddys CFO
ack Massey has been promoted to director of finance and company secretary of Paddy Power, in a move which will see the former Investment Technology Group employee resign from his roles as chief financial officer and executive director of the Irish operator.
Massey will be replaced as CFO by current non-executive director Cormac McCarthy, who will also become an executive director. The reshuffle will also result in current company secretary and general counsel David Johnson taking on an expanded legal and compliance role as group general counsel as the operator looks to expand into new markets. Paddys extended an existing supplier deal with GameAccount Network to cover Italy earlier this month as it looks to build its presence in the market, while Australian-facing brand Sportsbet, acquired in February 2011, saw net gaming revenues grow 37% year-on-year in the company’s latest quarterly interim management statement.
The company is also looking to enter Nevada, confirming its licence application in March this year.
Seven days in people news
Vincent leaves Media Corp after 12 years
Media Corp’s interim chief executive has stepped down from her role and resigned from the company’s board after more than 12 years with the troubled operator.
Vincent was appointed interim CEO after Justin Drummond announced he would become executive chairman of the group in March this year. However, after less than three months in their new positions both are to leave the company, following the collapse of reverse takeover talks with Gaming Media Group and the acquisition of betting platform Intabet last week.
Vincent joined Media Corp in January 2000 as managing director of its publishing division, the assets of which are currently being sold off, with domains Onthebox.com and Forexspace the latest to be sold, for a total of £250,000.
Redbet CEO leaves role after “completing mission”
Redbet chief executive Jorgen Andersson has stepped down from the role after two years, handing over the reins to acting chairman Claes Hallén while taking over as chairman.
The move comes after the Swedish operator saw first-quarter revenues increase by 42% year-on-year thanks to a strong casino showing.
Andersson said in a statement: “Two years have passed since I became CEO. The company found itself in 2010 in a very difficult situation with falling revenues and heavy losses. The company has since gone through major changes and [the] group’s gaming operations are currently profitable and showing growth.
RocketFrog brings in Myspace founder for social casino launch
RocketFrog, a new social casino founded by veterans of UltimateBet and the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, has gone live on Facebook, with Myspace co-founder Tom Anderson as a special advisor to the brand, aiming to build a presence in the market ahead of potential US egaming legislation.
The newly launched site offers slots, roulette, blackjack and several variants of poker, aiming to drive revenues through brand engagement rather than virtual currency transactions in order to build its profile.
The company was founded by CEO Brett Calapp, CMO Matt Osborn and CTO Uri Kozai in 2010. Calapp was previously CEO and co-founder of Centaurus Games, a subscription-based gaming site that was acquired by PartyGaming in 2010. Party subsequently launched its subscription-based clubWPT.com poker site on the platform.
Poker player Marvin Rettenmaier has signed up as a PartyPoker sponsored pro. The German, who previously represented TitanPoker, is currently leading the US$25,000 buy-in World Poker Championships with nine players remaining.