Bwin.partyâs head of poker Haas to depart
Jeffrey Haas will leave the operator at the end of the month to explore other opportunities
Bwin.partyâs director of poker Jeffrey Haas will step down from his role later this month to explore other opportunities, eGR North America can reveal. [private]
Haas joined bwin.party in 2013 from PokerStars with CEO Norbert Teufelberger tasking him with halting the decline of bwin.partyâs 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 NA.
“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.
“We also have a great business in New Jersey today, with a strong B2B unit and a strengthening B2C unit. Our 2015 outlook for New Jersey is more favourable than 2014.
“I am proud of the work my team had done to establish a leadership position in the New Jersey market every month since launch. We learned a lot in the process, and I will take those lessons to heart for the future,” he added.
A spokesperson for bwin.party this morning told eGR NA Haas had helped âcreate a more stable foundationâ for its global poker business and had played a key role in the operatorâs New Jersey success.
Following Haasâ departure bwin.partyâs US poker business will now become part of its Games Labels division, which is overseen by Golan Shaked.
Haas intially worked for bwin back in June 2005 as director of product management for its Ongame Network before moving to PokerStars in 2006 where he headed up its live poker operations in Asia and led the team that launched its first mobile product.
Confirmation of Haasâ exit comes just days after 888 Holdingsâ revealed it had reached an agreement to acquire bwin.party for US$1.4bn.