Bwin.Party Appoints Philip Yea as Chairman
Philip Yea, who was chief executive of private equity firm 3i, has been appointed chairman of the gambling and poker company bwin.party digital entertainment.
Philip Yea, who was chief executive of private equity firm 3i during the financial crisis, has been appointed as chairman of bwin.party.
Now he will succeed Simon Duffy at bwin.party. Duffy is leaving after three years during which he oversaw the merging of bwin and PartyGaming.
Yea has also worked as a finance director at Diageo and a non-executive director at Vodafone. His appointment has come after bwin.party reported a 9% fall in revenues for the first quarter of this year.
The fall in revenues has been attributed to the challenging poker market in Europe, Greece’s decision to block 150 gaming websites and the company’s change to a “value not volume” approach. This new approach has resulted in higher takings per player, but has put a dent in overall revenues.
At present Germany is bwin.party’s biggest market, however, it is hoping to move into California and New York as soon as regulations allow. Furthermore the company is hoping to make another £16.5 million in cost savings.
