Struggling gambling company Bwin.party Digital Entertainment, the leading European online gambling operator, has said goodbye to three top executives, all of who were responsible for the company’s prospective US operations. Sources have confirmed that World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller, group technology director Tod Martin, and business development director Alen Lang have all been shown the door in an effort to cut costs, with more departures to come in the future. This follows up on the departure of former co-CEO Jim Ryan in January.
Heller joined PartyGaming in 2005 as the CEO of Asian operations. WPT President Adam Piska will reportedly assume Heller’s role in the company.
Martin, who joined the company in 2008, saw his role as CTO diminish when the company hired Guy Duncan in January. Since then, Martin was focused solely on the development of Bwin.party’s US-facing technology. Martin will officially leave the company later this year.
Lang, who has been a part of PartyGaming since 2005, was responsible for the company’s US deals with MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming in 2011, California’s United Auburn Tribe in 2012, and social gaming giant Zynga last October. Ironically, Lang was touted in the December issue of Global Gaming Business as one of the ‘25 People to Watch in 2013,’ and was dubbed by Gaming Intelligence as one of its ten ‘Backstage Heroes’ for being “absolutely key” to Bwin.party’s future growth.
The executives’ departures comes on the heels of the company’s grim first-quarter earnings report, which saw revenue plummet to its lowest point in three years, falling 17% to €180.2 million, and with indications that this trend will only accelerate in Q2. Earnings have already declined 22% in the second quarter from the same period last year.
In April, Bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger announced that the company would no longer accept new players from 18 counties in Europe and South American. The move was officially labeled as a shift of priorities from ‘volume to value’, but was in reality an attempt to save the company €70 million annually.
A spokesperson for Bwin.party has refused to comment, stating that the company doesn’t speak out about changes in management.