Some big news has been shaking the online gaming world’s business sector, as some leading Internet gambling brands have made big announcements regarding their finances and leadership. Here’s the latest on the online gambling business world:
888 CEO to depart
Gigi Levy, the well-known chief executive for 888 Holdings, has announced that he’s leaving the company as CEO, but will remain on the company’s board.
Levy announced that he’ll remain on for six months to “assist in the transition to a new CEO” and would “remain on the board … during that period and thereafter,” reports the Telegraph. That article directly connects the news with 888’s Wink Bingo situation in a pretty convincing way.
An 888 spokesperson said over the weekend that “Gigi has left the company well positioned for the future,” per the UK’s Daily Mail news publication.
888 may not be the leading UK online gaming brand in terms of revenue, but it has been working hard to position itself for a brighter future, and it looks likely to achieve just that. A recent, very high-profile deal with Caesars Entertainment has put the company into the fight to get online gambling allowed in the United States. Reports of a future merger with Ladbrokes are reportedly ongoing, as well.
Bwin.party continues to slide
Bwin.Party, the world’s largest publicly listed online gambling company, formed in late March by the official merging of PartyGaming and Bwin Interactive Entertainment, has had a rough start, financially.
Just days after it went online, Germany made some big announcements to its online gambling future plans. Since the bwin half of Bwin.Party hails from Austria, the company has a strong presence in the German markets, so the news hit hard.
“The newly merged company gets about 23 percent of its pro- forma revenue from Germany, with half coming from sports,” Bloomberg explains.
Late last week, the company “fell 31.5 pence to 166.4 pence, giving the company a market value of 1.4 billion pounds ($2.3 billion),” the report continues.
Unibet strong
Unibet’s annual report for 2010 was very strong, with profits rising to 34.2 million (from 32.8 last year) and speculation over whether the company will return to the French market or follow through with its potential Sportingbet hook-up.
“If you add to this the fact that sports betting saw growth of around 22%, thanks largely to the World Cup, you can see why” the company could choose to “forge ahead on their own,” writes Eric Bianchi at CalvinAyre.com.