Gaming device maker and online gaming provider SHFL Entertainment has hired Michael Daly as its VP of online gaming. Daly is a former SHFL alum, having served as both product manager and project manager at SHFL’s former incarnation Shuffle Master from 2003 to 2006. Daly was most recently senior director of interactive operations at SHFL rival Bally Technologies. Daly’s new post will see him oversee worldwide execution of SHFL’s online B2B strategy, including real-money gambling, social gaming and mobile initiatives.
UK betting outfit Coral has appointed former England, Chelsea and Man U footballer Ray Wilkins as their director of football. Coral retail marketing director Olly Raeburn said the company was “extremely pleased” to have nabbed ‘The Crab’ for its own. “It made sense for us to get a top man on the job of signing new customers for us as the transfer window draws to a close.”
German online gambling firm Tipp24 SE has appointed Sebastian Blohm as the new global head of external and legal affairs. Blohm comes over from Reemtsma, a subsidiary of the UK’s Imperial Tobacco Group. Tipp24 says Blohm’s focus will be on “political level” relationships in order to help the company spread its wings beyond Germany’s borders.
Nevada-headquartered Galaxy Gaming Inc., which develops, manufactures and distributes casino table games and enhanced casino systems, has added Dan Lubin as table games project manager. Lubin comes over from Station Casinos, where he served in various capacities since 2006. Lubin is also the inventor of the EZ Pai Gow Poker table game released by DEQ Systems Corp. Galaxy CEO Robert Saucier said Lubin would be the “perfect complement to our team” as it plans “a number of strategic decisions to stimulate further growth of the company.”
Finally, legendary Irish horse trainer and bookie scourge Barney Curley (pictured above) has reportedly made his last wager. The 72-year-old Curley was behind the infamous ‘Yellow Sam’ betting incident in 1975, in which a Curley accomplice tied up the only phone line then available at Bellewstown while other accomplices across the country placed wagers at off-course bookies on Curley’s behalf. But Curley told the Belfast Telegraph “the buzz has gone out of the game … I haven’t had a bet since my last coup in 2010 as I would have to put in as much effort to make only half of 1% of the money we made at that time.” That ‘coup’ earned Curley £4m, the last £823k of which he received after a lengthy court fight with UK bookie Betfred, which was only resolved in Feb. 2012. Curley plans to spend his remaining days focused on his AIDS orphan charity in Zambia, Direct Aid for Africa, which he founded in the mid-1990s.
