LONDON – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Michael Hirst OBE, the independent
chairman of eCOGRA has announced the appointment of Swedish national Karl
Magnusson (30) to the board of directors of the online gambling
self-regulatory body.
Magnusson is a director of software developer Ongame in Stockholm Sweden
which powers one of the largest poker operations, PokerRoom.com in the
booming poker room industry. He is also a director of UK companies Ongame
Limited and Nordicone Limited and has extensive financial and general
management experience with major organisations like ABN Amro's Alfred Berg
Asset Management and the financial statistics department of the government of
Sweden.
He holds a Master's degree in Economics from Uppsala University in Sweden.
"We welcome Karl's membership of eCOGRA's board of directors," said
Hirst. "He brings valuable financial and management expertise which
complements the high calibre of professional management capability eCOGRA
already has in its independent directorate through respected figures such as
Bill Galston and Frank Catania, together with leading industry executives
John Anderson of Cassava and Roger Raatgever of Microgaming."
Ongame recently became the third major online gambling software company
to join the eCOGRA self-regulatory initiative, which seeks to protect players
through the "Play It Safe" seal on 56 top online casino and poker room sites.
eCOGRA's members now account for over 80% of the online casino industry's
turnover, and provide software to 3 of the top 6 poker networks.
Although directors representing eCOGRA's members now equal the number of
independent directors, the organisation's constitution is such that board
control is still in the hands of the independent directors, as well as
fundamental decisions such as which software suppliers may be admitted as
members, and which online gaming sites have earned eCOGRA accreditation.