NEWS / THE BRIEFING /
THE SMOKING GUN
s Rumours, gossip and scandal from the dark corridors of online gaming
F
or operators, having a Twitter
account is the modern day
equivalent of transcribing every
customer service phone call and
printing it for everyone to see. And
while most (OK, some) have got
to grips with how to communicate
through the social networking site,
others appear to fluctuate between the
banal and the downright bizarre.
Sportingbet’s chief twitterer
appeared to wake up on the wrong
side of bed on Grand National morning.
Telling punters “It’s us against you” and
“We lay big bets from proper punters”,
he proceeded to wind up anyone
daring to question him.
This spikey attitude soon fell fowl of
followers, some of whom were berated
for “giving it large” when they “didn’t
have a bean” to spend. Others were
called “moaning chumps” and one was
told: “We don’t want your business.
We’ll both survive without each other
so let’s just move on,
eh? X”
The barrage of
abuse prompted
w Paf CEO
Anders Ingves
one follower to ask: “Is whoever’s
running the @Sportingbet_com
Twitter account tonight drunk?”
Another posted: “You really need to
get someone else in control of your
twitter acct (sic) as you come across a
complete pr**k.”
Sportingbet’s social media manager
might want to be just a tad more, well,
sporting in future.
POLKA STARS IN THEIR EYES
TSG accidentally discovered a musical
side to one of America’s chief egaming
proponents this month. In email
conversation, New Jersey Senator Ray
Lesniak kept referring to the online
poker giant as ‘Polka Stars’, prompting
us to enquire about the unusual
spelling.
It turns out Polka Stars was the
name of the polka band Lesniak played
in to help pay his way through Rutgers
University in New Jersey back in the
swinging 60s. TSG has offered to help
spread the word but Lesniak said a
reunion tour was unlikely; but then
again so did Pink Floyd.
FINNISH THAT NONSENSE
Talking of musical talents, Anders
Ingves, CEO of Finnish operator Paf,
has tapped into his creative side for the
company’s 2013 annual report.
For his welcoming statement he
used the second verse and chorus
of Neil Young’s 1970 folk hit Don’t
Let It Bring You Down. Hopefully the
lyrics ‘Blind man running through the
light’ are not a reference to his own
leadership qualities.
£12.4 20% 3%
MILLION
Amount Ladbrokes paid for
Australian operator Eskander’s
Betstar this month. Ladbrokes
acquired Gaming Investments for
£13m in September.
12
S
The rise in New Jersey
online casino revenues
during March as Borgata
and bwin.party dominate.
Threshold at which B2C
UK licence applicants must
show evidence of probity
for revenues derived from
overseas jurisdictions.
PEOPLE
NEWS
HENRY BIRCH NAMED
NEW RANK CEO
The Rank Group has named former
William Hill Online (WHO) chief
executive Henry Birch as the
successor to outgoing CEO Ian
Burke.
Burke will stand down from his
role on 6 May after eight years at
the helm, but will retain a place
on the board as a non-executive
chairman. The appointment marks
Birch’s return to the egaming fold
after having stepped down from his
role at WHO in October 2012.
FULL TILT APPOINTS
MANSOUR AS MD
Rational Group subsidiary Full
Tilt has ended its near two-year
search for a managing director after
appointing former Health Lottery
CEO Dominic Mansour.
Mansour, who left the lottery
operator in February, has been
selected as the long-term successor
to Ray Bitar, who left the company
following Rational’s takeover of Full
Tilt in July 2012.
GALA CORAL CREATES
CORPORATE AFFAIRS ROLE
Gala Coral has appointed
communications specialist Fiona
Thorne to the newly created role of
corporate affairs director.
According to the operator, Thorne
has been hired in order to help the
group deal with public issues such
as the ongoing debate surrounding
gambling’s impact on wider society.
BWIN.PARTY APPOINTS
YEA AS CHAIRMAN
Bwin.party has announced the
appointment of former Manchester
United, HBOS and Halifax nonexecutive director Philip Yea as the
operator’s new chairman of the
board.
Yea replaces Simon Duffy who is
to step down from at the company’s
Annual General Meeting on 22 May.
W W W. E G R M A G A Z I N E . C O M