William Hill Online chief operating officer, Peter Marcus, has announced an early exit from his position at the major UK online gambling site. In an interview with EGRmagazine, Marcus said that he expects his time there to be over “shortly, probably weeks rather than months.”

“This is purely about how we structure the business and how we can operate most efficiently” said William Hill Online CEO Henry Birch.

Marcus came on board the team at William Hill in January as part of their 5-year deal with Playtech. As part of the deal, online gambling software developer Playtech furnished William Hill Online with online poker and other casino software along with acquiring marketing companies Uniplay International and Six Digits Trading.

Marcus himself had this to say in an interview with EGR. “The reason for leaving is that we have just had a big restructure of the business and a number of the functions I manage have moved to TelAviv, and it was mutually agreed that I wasn’t interested in carrying on with fewer functions.”

Marcus caused a stir in the online gambling community last month when he railed against rakebacks, saying “networks and licensees have to find ways of rewarding loyalty which don’t encourage people to keep switching rooms or which involve stealing each other’s customers. It’s going to take time and be tough to get there, but the whole industry has to get together and be strict on this.”

There is no word yet on where Marcus will leave, however this appears to be a peaceful parting of ways, on the surface anyway. For more information, visit William Hill Online.

Cryptologic had a novel idea. Their revenues were down so they did something about it. The online game designer has seen a long-term fall in its revenue so they decided to restructure the company and cut costs. By slashing operating expenses by 25% each year and expanding their gaming licenses, Cryptologic has stopped the free fall and has put themselves in a position for a more profitable future. The company reported a 40% drop in total revenue, due in part to long-term Asian investments and William Hill heading to Playtech’s iPoker, prompting the cost-cutting measures.

Profits have been slowed by a slower than expected release of their new games, but by cutting operating costs and signing those new contracts, seemingly one a week for a while, Cryptologic has dug themselves out of a hole and leveled out their revenue. The new licensing resulted in a 21% growth in revenue over the last quarter over its casino licensing business.

Cryptologic can stand as an example for other companies. They did what companies used to do before they started asking the government to save them. They looked at their situation and determined what needed to be done to become profitable. If only GM had been capable of that.

Spain, like the United States, has had a ban on online gambling. However, the Spanish government is taking steps to legalize and regulate the online gambling industry. As the market begins to open up, online casinos are rushing to get their place at the table. Two online casino giants, Bwin and William Hill, are currently under negotiations for licensing deals. Studies say that Spain has a potential a market of 50 million people. Bwin and William Hill want to be the first online casinos to hit the market, giving them an early competitive advantage.

 Spain’s move to legalize online gambling is in response to the European Union claim that the ban on online gambling violates EU trade agreements. The United States has been criticized of the same thing in regards to trade agreements within the World Trade Organization. With the possibility of America legalizing gambling soon as well – with a bill to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) currently in the House of Representatives – you can bet that the US would face a similar licensing rush from casinos. Most people believe that the US would give preference to current land-based casinos for licensing, though it would have to allow some foreign online casinos to abide by its trade agreements.

 Until then, Spain is the new pretty girl in the class and all of the online casinos want to meet her and get her phone number. Bwin and William Hill are the first to start talking to her, but expect the shyer casinos to say hello soon.