bwin.party online casino group loses co chief executive

Since the merger of bwin Interactive Entertainment and PartyGaming to form bwin.party digital entertainment which instantly became one of the largest online gambling groups in the world, here at the Irish casino news we have waiting for developments but the one we did not expect was the departure of the co chief executive Jim Ryan. According to reports in the Irish casino news Mr Ryan who of course was previously chief executive of PartyGaming will step down on January 15th 2013 and return to Canada which is where he is from. Although a surprise to us here at casinos.ie it appears that some financial analysts were not surprised. Mr Ryan is reported in the Irish casino news as being a key part of the integration of bwin and Party since the March 2011 merger as well as overseeing entry of the group into newly regulated European markets. Interestingly this leaves the other co chief executive Mr Norbert Teufelberger in sole charge and he is the person who was questioned by Belgian police about allegations of illegally taking bets from Belgian customers. Mr Teufelberger was attending a gambling conference in Brussels when the police moved in but we hasten to add that no charges were ever brought against Mr Teufelberger. The online casino operations of the two parties continue to operate separately so any Irish casino player can register with either in complete confidence although we must expect some form of rationalisation at some stage in the future. The shares in the group are reported in the Irish casino news as dropping 1p on the day although as they have lost more than 20% over the previous year it is unlikely to have been any reaction to the departure of Mr Ryan. Irish casino news at casinos.ie will continue to monitor the situation for you.