Big changes for Cryptologic!

[maxd]

All change at CryptoLogic,

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Amaya Gaming Group Incorporated has announced that David Gavagan has resigned as Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer for online casino games developer CryptoLogic Limited to be replaced by David Baazov.

Montreal-based Amaya recently got the green light to purchase CryptoLogic in a deal worth $34.5 million and revealed that Baazov currently also serves as its President, Chief Executive Officer, Secretary and Treasurer.

In addition, Amaya declared that Huw Spiers has stepped down as Operations Group Head and Chief Financial Officer for CryptoLogic with his post set to be filled by its Chief Financial Officer, Daniel Sebag.

... “CryptoLogic announces that, as requested by Amaya, it intends to apply to the UK Listing Authority for the cancellation of listing of CryptoLogic shares on the official list and to the London Stock Exchange for the cancellation of admission to trading of CryptoLogic shares on its main market for listed securities.”(

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"$34.5 million"?!? Back in the day the carpeting in their offices was worth more than that! Looks like the end of the road for a company that once led the industry though the salad days were some time ago.

 

[dionysus]

dang, i love crypto games; intercasino is awesome for quick WDs

 

[Realitybitez]

Same! Intercasino is also one of my favourite casinos

dang, i love crypto games; intercasino is awesome for quick WDs

Fast cashouts Is Intercasino closing down

 

[jetset]

Montreal-based Amaya is an interesting company - seemed to come out of nowhere a few years back and has been buying up other outfits like Chartwell Tech and nailing contracts all over the world ever since. It's been involved in collaborative deals with Shufflemaster, Aristocrat and Loto Quebec and has a market cap over 100 mill dollars, although it made a loss last year, but that may be due to its rapid expansion.

It's essentially a turnkey provider and content group across several gambling sectors, so it's going to be interesting to see what it does with Crypto.

See also CM News, where its deals have been appearing regularly.

 

[maxd]

Is Intercasino closing down

AFAIK nothing has been announced regarding Intercasino so my guess is it's business as usual, at least until we hear otherwise.

 

[chayton]

Interesting that last week I received a survey invitation from Intercasino - what do you like about us, what don't you like, what other casinos do you play and why, etc. First time I've ever gotten anything like that, I wonder if it has anything to do with this sale?

 

[dionysus]

lol, same, and said id get 20 bucks for doing it, which i didnt lol

 

[conker]

I don't quite know what happened to Crypto either, they just couldn't seem to compete with Playtech and MG. Perhaps it was the closing of the US market that was the writing on the wall for this firm. I can only think of Intercasino that proudly parades their games anymore.

 

[maxd]

... Perhaps it was the closing of the US market that was the writing on the wall for this firm.

Yup, that was a big part of it. Crypto had always been strongly US-facing and the US situation hit them pretty damn hard. They put on a pretty game face for a while but in retrospect I think the truth of it is closer to them being gut-shot by it and ... well, it didn't turn out so good.

That said I think it's also true that there was a bit of a long-term vision problem at Crypto. For instance when they bought WinnerOnline -- easily the largest and most influential online casino portal in it's day -- all they ever cared about was that the place showed a profit on the monthly balance sheet. We (I was one of the original WOL staff) could have been making gourmet pop-tarts for all they cared. There was no master plan for WOL, no attempt to leverage it's (once) strong place in the portal scene, no attempt to include it in the overall corporate vision. While that may have been convenient for WOL at the time -- no outside interference in the day-to-day ops of the place, for instance -- it did leave a potentially huge resource to slowly curl up and die when the revenue stream started to dry up. Neither of them were much use to the other when things started to sour.

On the other hand I'm no marketing guy and I'm certainly no visionary when it comes to executive issues. Maybe there was nothing to be done under the circumstances. Shrug, dunno, ancient history now.

 

[chayton]

lol, same, and said id get 20 bucks for doing it, which i didnt lol

I talked to chat late last night about that - they said there was a delay because of the holidays and to expect an email with a redemption code either today or tomorrow.

 

[conker]

That said I think it's also true that there was a bit of a long-term vision problem at Crypto. For instance when they bought WinnerOnline -- easily the largest and most influential online casino portal in it's day -- all they ever cared about was that the place showed a profit on the monthly balance sheet. We (I was one of the original WOL staff) could have been making gourmet pop-tarts for all they cared. There was no master plan for WOL, no attempt to leverage it's (once) strong place in the portal scene, no attempt to include it in the overall corporate vision. While that may have been convenient for WOL at the time -- no outside interference in the day-to-day ops of the place, for instance -- it did leave a potentially huge resource to slowly curl up and die when the revenue stream started to dry up. Neither of them were much use to the other when things started to sour.

Too worried about the bottom line and not thinking about what was coming in the future. I also think they learnty a huge lesson when Playtech launched their version of the Marvel slots, which were far better than Cyrpto's.

 

[mattsgame]

I talked to chat late last night about that - they said there was a delay because of the holidays and to expect an email with a redemption code either today or tomorrow.

Mine was in my email just now, but for some reason ended up in the spam folder there other emails get through fine.

 

[binary128]

"$34.5 million"?!? Back in the day the carpeting in their offices was worth more than that! Looks like the end of the road for a company that once led the industry though the salad days were some time ago.

Crypto's recent presence in the market, to me anyway, has been consistent with that of someone in a bed in the back ward of a long term care facility. Still, until I saw that number, I had no idea that they were that badly off.

A bit sad, really. "Back in the day" they were almost the definition of "online Casinos".

Chris

 

[TonyH]

Hi All!

Just to say that we are very excited by the Amaya deal and see it as a huge opportunity for growth in the coming months. Our customer survey recently was related to brand development work we’re carrying out to underpin the launch of various media campaigns planned for later this year. It’s all very much business as usual and super-busy at Inter right now as we look forward to product expansion and reinvigorating brand awareness with a strong identity in the market place in the coming months. We have been around for 16 years and look forward to a much lengthier innings!

 

[hakapuku]

Some 3-4 years ago Cryptologic was the best group of online casinos. Paid fast, offered generous bonuses, absolutely the best. Then, I suppose, some greedy management decided to change everything there. Bonuses become unplayable, payments not so fast, every withdrawal was analyzed with microscope before processed...And as the result the company went down and down... It is almost never profitable to be greedy!

 

[gerilege]

I think the biggest problem is the quality of slots, there are many games that look like something back in 2004. The lobby renovation is a good step, but imho the future would be to narrow the game selection a bit, but increase the gaming experience for the remaining games. Also the house edge is not really competitive with some other providers.

 

[TonyH]

All

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I welcome with open arms any and all constructive feedback people are willing to provide that will ultimately make InterCasino a better place to play.
We’re currently offering 4 My Bonus 4 Life promos each month with a variety of different offers available at any one time.
I’m currently reviewing our deposit and withdrawal processes hakapuku and would greatly appreciate any additional feedback you would be willing to provide regarding previous deposit and withdrawal experiences with us. Please feel free to contact me directly at support@intercasino.com and I will address your concerns personally.
Regarding the comment about ‘house edge’, I’d be keen to get a better understanding of what game or type of game specifically gerilege you refer to and encourage you to contact me also at support@intercasino.com .
Our games are amongst the most competitive in the industry but we are always looking at ways to improve the overall experience for our players.

Many thanks

Tony