More movements expected in response to the company’s new gambling concerns

Wednesday 18th August 2004

A management reshuffle has started at PBL- the Australian Kerry Packer owned company. Speculators are assuming that the changes being made are a direct result of the recent agreement forged between PBL and UK betting exchange Betfair to start a joint online gambling venture in Australia.

Although the agreement and resulting development plans are still in the very early stages, the recent decision over management roles, are thought to be motivated by this new concern of PBL and the attention the company as a whole would like to give the venture.

The first change to be announced has taken place at ACP- the magazines division of PBL. Michael Mangan the Head of IT has been promoted to Director of Operations and Technology. It is expected that the Deputy CEO of ACP, David Gardiner who announced the promotion of Mangan, will be the next to move upwards, to the CEO position of ACP.

The current holder of that position, John Alexander, is becoming increasingly involved with the concerns of the company as a whole, and specifically in its gambling concerns since the announcement of its new deal with Betfair. Alexander has now been learning as much about the company’s gambling branch of the business as quickly as he can. Although Betfair is still to be granted the appropriate licenses to operate in Australia, it is not expected that there will be any obstacles for the Ukbetting exchange and its new Australian partner PBL. In the meantime Alexander is acquainting himself with the operations of the PBL owned Crown Casino, the bid in place for the Burswood casino in Perth, the plans for securing a management deal for a casino in Macao, and of course the operations of Betfair. It is expected that Gardiner will be announced as CEO of Acp in the next couple of months, essentially freeing Alexander to become further involved in PBL’s existing and new gambling ventures.

Source: OnlineCasinoNews