From Poker News
Bwin.party digital entertainment, the leading European online gambling operator, has taken drastic measures to cut costs. Sources told eGamingReview this week that World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller, business development director Alen Lang, and group technology director Tod Martin have all left the company. More departures may take place in the future.
Heller joined PartyGaming in 2005 as CEO of Asian operations. It is reported that WPT President Adam Pliska will assume Heller’s role. PokerNews reached out to bwin.party for comment about Heller’s departure, but a spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment about management changes.
Martin, who has been with the company since 2008, saw his role with the company diminish when Guy Duncan joined the company in January, after which Martin has focused on developing Bwin.party’s U.S.-facing technology. Martin is expected to officially leave the company later this year.
Lang, who has also been with PartyGaming since 2005, is credited for having pushed a joint venture with MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming in late 2011, as well as with social gaming giant Zynga just last October.
The three executives’ departures stem from the company’s first-quarter reports, which saw revenue plummet to its lowest point in three years, dropping to €180.2 million, 17% year on year. The trend appears as if it will continue to drop, this time at an ever more rapid pace having already declined 22% in the second quarter from the same period last year.
In April, bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger announced the company would stop accepting new customers from 18 countries in Europe and South America as a way to shift priorities from “volume to value.” The changes made were said to save the company €70 million annually.
Jim Ryan, former co-CEO of bwin.party, retired from the company in January.
