People news 08/11/12
A round-up of industry moves from the last week (2 November to 8 November 2012).
Topping to step down from SPL role
William Hill chief executive has served as chairman of the league for more than three years.
William Hill CEO Ralph Topping will step down from his role as non-executive chairman of the Scottish Premier League (SPL) by the end of the current football season, the operator has confirmed.
Topping has held the role for more than three-and-a-half years, during which time he oversaw Hills’ agreements with the English and Scottish national football teams.
The two-year Scotland deal, announced in August this year, made williamhill.com an “official supporter” of the national side and represented an extension of an earlier agreement through which Hills sponsors the Scottish Cup and acts as official betting partner of the SPL.
Hills’ betting partnership with the league was extended in July last year and will now run until the end of the 2013-14 season.
Egaming power players in US election boost
The US politicians backing egaming regulation have retained their powerful positions following last night’s election results, which saw Barack Obama win another four years in the White House.
As far as the chances of federal egaming legislation go, the continuation of the status quo is likely to increase its chances of progress, with Senator Harry Reid, the man poised to introduce his online poker legislation in this month’s lame duck session which starts today, holding onto his control of the Senate after fellow Democrats won in key states including Indiana and Massachusetts.
Going into the election, the Democrats held 53 seats in the Senate while the GOP held 47, and with the former retaining control, Reid stands a far better chance of striking a deal to pass his bill. Had control switched to the Republican party, tagging an egaming bill onto a larger and more urgent piece of legislation would have proved almost impossible.
A victory for Mitt Romney could have put an end to hopes of regulation in the near term. The GOP included language in its 2012 political platform which described its intentions to prohibit online gambling, as well as to reverse the DoJ’s clarification of the Wire Act which widened the door to state-by-state regulation when it was announced in December 2011.
Seven days in people moves:
Mfuse hires new head of business development
Mobile betting technology provider Mfuse has appointed Paul Galbraith to its senior management team as its new business development director.
Galbraith will be responsible for sales, marketing and business development across the Mfuse business and has been tasked both with bringing in new mobile betting and gaming clients, as well as growing the Mfuse business in non-betting and gaming sectors.
Mfuse specialises in enterprise and B2C solutions with its gaming clients including Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, Betsson, Betfred, Tote UK and mybet. According to the company, it handled more than 1 billion transactions from 200,000 actives last year. It employs 65 people in the UK and holds a technology service provider licence from the UK Gambling Commission.
He has a Masters in politics, philosophy & economics from Oxford University and brings a “wide-range of contacts and experience”, gained from six years working in marketing, commercial strategy and business development for Cantor Index, Rank Interactive Development and Sportradar AG, according to the company. Galbraith also sat on the executive and international committees of industry lobby group the Remote Gambling Association.
“Mfuse is an incredibly professional and capable business with an exceptional client list in mobile betting “ and arguably the very best products in the industry. There is however significant room for growth both in that sector and beyond,” says Galbraith.
Geoff Read, CEO of Mfuse, added: “We’re really excited with the range and breadth of commercial experience that Paul brings to the team along with his excellent contact base across both egaming and the online B2C sector. I know Paul is fully committed to the new Mfuse business model and approach and we are looking forward to continuing to grow the business in the months and years to come.”
Plumbee poaches seventh staff member from Betfair
Andrew Wakeling has joined social casino company Plumbee as a data analyst from Betfair after five years at the exchange. This brings the total number of ex-Betfair staff working for and associated with Plumbee to seven including: Simon Loader (automated systems engineer), Fredy Easey (senior data analyst, at Betfair 2004 to 2010), Owen O’Donnell on the Plumbee board (former Betfair CFO 2003 to 2005), Ben Fried and Anton Bell on Plumbee’s advisory board and its co-founder/CTO Jodi Moran (Betfair from 2007 to 2008).