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PARTYGAMING TRIMMING GIB STAFF

The Gibraltar Chronicle
Sept 5

PartyGaming will cut its Gibraltar workforce in the next few months as part of a new global strategy in the face of tough competition.


The company confirmed the redundancy plan and told staff on Wednesday that it would conduct a sixty-day consultation to see what posts would be at risk.
Spokesman John Shepherd told GBC the company had been forced into this position by changes in the gaming market.
He complained of unfair competition and said some rival
Companies had remained active in the US despite Washington’s ban on online gaming.
Despite the prospect of job cuts, PartyGaming said it was committed to Gibraltar and planned to introduce new posts in the future.
The company currently employs around 320 people here.
Last week PartyGaming reported a drop in the number of people playing its Poker games in the last two months, overshadowing positive first-half results and prompting downgrades to earnings forecasts.
At the time, Chief Executive Jim Ryan, who joined the company at the end of June, said the Poker business was continuing to be held back by competition from sites which accept players from the
US.
“This represents a continuing competitive threat to listed businesses like PartyGaming that immediately stopped customers in the US from playing or making deposits on any of the group’s real money sites following the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act,” Mr Ryan said.