Swaziland-based online gambling operator Piggs Peak will cease operations by the end of November. The news came just days after Piggs Peak’s owners, Casino Enterprises, saw their appeal of South Africa’s online gambling prohibition rejected by a South African court. While Piggs Peak also serviced Swaziland and Namibia, an estimated 90% of its customers were South Africans, leaving the company’s position untenable. Over 70 employees will be let go, and the bickering over severance payments has already reached fever pitch.
Convinced that Casino Enterprises tried to undercut them with ‘forced exit packages’, the employees have asked Swaziland’s Labor Commissioner to intervene. In response, Managing Director Howard Berchowitz told the Swazi Observer that he’s not Hitler. “Allegations that I have grossly flouted labor laws and offered low retrenchment packages for the staff are untrue. I am not an authoritarian and strongly believe in democratic principles.” Berchowitz claims the company offered employees packages worth “double what they are supposed to receive according to statutory law” and warned that if employees deemed that insufficient, Casino Enterprises “will use the law to set the record straight and revoke our offer.”
Things are infinitely more harmonious between UK operator William Hill and Amalgamated Racing, owners of horse racing channel Turf TV. The two companies have agreed to an early renewal of their existing contract, allowing races from 31 of the UK’s 59 racecourses to be beamed into all 2,370 of Will Hill’s betting shops until the year 2018. Making the deal all the more special, Will Hill becomes the first major UK operator to re-up with Turf TV. Geez, get a room, you two…
