UK Director To Leave Betfair
Betfair, the iconic betting exchange, sports betting group and leading online casino site, is undergoing a number of significant changes under its new Chief Executive, Breon Corcoran.
This weekend, the group's director of sportsbook, poker and casino in the UK, Peter Marcus, confirmed that he was involved in talks that would ultimately see him leave the group after 14 months.
Marcus was recruited from rival group William Hill to run the UK business, which accounts for more than half of Betfair's revenue.
While Betfair would not comment on the news that the Betfair UK director is to leave, it is believed that he will be on his way out within the next few days.
Betfair Culling Translators
Peter Marcus' departure is just part of a larger move to reduce the number of employees at Betfair as the group focuses on its core product and reduces its expansion around the globe.
It was recently announced that over 50 translators would be asked to leave the group, with Betfair stating that it would be reducing the number of languages available on foreign sites in Eastern Europe, the Nordic countries and Asia. Instead, Betfair intends to focus on countries that are "more strategically attractive".
"We are concentrating on some countries more than others," said Betfair.
The group would not disclose which countries it was reducing its translation services in and said it was not pulling out of these markets altogether. However, Betfair did confirm that it would not try to attract new customers in these countries and would reduce marketing costs.
Analysts, Morgan Stanley noted: "We think new management is making ongoing changes to the geographic profile of the business."
Betfair, which was founded in 1999, employees over 2,000 people around the world, mostly technology staff.
Betfair May Leave German Market
Another market that Betfair may soon be leaving altogether is Germany. Betfair has already withdrawn its sports betting exchange service in that country after being forced to pay a 5% turnover tax on sports bets under new German gambling regulations.
As Betfair's smaller operations in Germany are unable to sustain the group's presence in the country, it is widely believed that it will exit the German market altogether in the not too distant future.
Further changes are expected after Corcoran announces the conclusions of his strategic review of the company, which is likely to take place when Betfair publishes its interim results on December 13.