Playtech's Board Of Directors Named

Published: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

PLAYTECH'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS NAMED

IPO launch makes public the men behind the Board table

Turnkey provider Playtech's launch this week puts flesh on some of the executive names associated with a company that has in the past been slow to communicate, especially with the player community in online gambling. The Board shows substantial depth in management expertise at both technical and administrative levels.

Chairman of the Board is Roger Withers (aged 63), Non-executive Chairman, who has over 30 years' experience in the leisure and gaming industries. In 1973, he joined Ladbrokes (Hilton) where he held a number of senior positions in the bookmaking, casino, lottery and gaming machine divisions. In 1986, he joined Bass where his roles included managing director of BMLS and Coral Racing and executive chairman of Bass Leisure South Africa. He retired from Bass in 1998. Roger currently has a number of other non-executive directorships, including Chairman of Arena Leisure plc and senior independent non-executive director of FireOne Plc.

Avigur Zmora (aged 32), Chief Executive Officer

This executive joined the Playtech Group in July 2002 and became the Group's Chief Executive Officer in February 2006. Prior to joining the Group, Avigur was chief financial officer of Teddy Sagy's New Age Ventures Limited, a Tel Aviv listed company that served as an incubator to several successful technology companies, including Playtech. Sagy remains the majority shareholder in Playtech. Prior to this, Avigur was controller and chief financial officer of Gateway 4 You Limited, a Tel Aviv listed company and a payment processing firm specialising in credit card fraud protection. Avigur qualified as a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen after national service in the Israeli defence forces.

Thomas Hall (aged 38), Business Development Director

Tom is the Group's Business Development Director and former Chief Executive Officer, having been with the Group since 2002. Based in Asia, he has been primarily responsible for overseeing global customer growth and the development of customised software solutions for the Asian marketplace. From 1995 until he joined the Playtech Group in 2002, he was chief executive officer of TTR Strategic Holdings Limited ('TTR'), an Asia Pacific focused financial services group. Tom remains a non-executive director of NAV Limited, a financial services data processing subsidiary of TTR. Prior to that, he worked in Swiss private banking and private client financial services in the UK and Hong Kong. He also serves as non-executive chairman of the affiliate, Emphasis Services Limited, an Asian gaming consultancy and venture capital firm.

Moshe Barak (aged 37), Chief Financial Officer

Moshe joined the Playtech Group in December 2005 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 March 2006 having previously been financial controller of ImageSat International N.V., a leading provider of satellite imagery services to worldwide customers. Prior to this, Moshe worked at Arthur Andersen in Israel where he qualified as a certified public accountant.

Rafael Ashkenazi (aged 31), Chief Operating Officer

Rafi joined the Playtech Group as Chief Operating Officer of the Playtech Group in January 2006. From 2001 until 2005, Rafi was VP of project & products for SQLink Group, an Israeli company and provider of end-to-end IT services specialising in on-site software consulting and services. Prior to this, Rafi worked for Hapoalim Bank, the largest bank in Israel, as a system analyst and
developer.

Alan Jackson (aged 63), Non-executive Director

Alan has over 30 years' experience in the leisure industry. From 1973 to 1991, he occupied a number of positions at Whitbread, principally as managing director of Beefeater steakhouse and also the Whitbread restaurant division where he was responsible for the creation and development of the Beefeater, Travel Inn and TGI Friday brands. In 1991, he founded his own business which became Inn
Business Group plc in 1995 and was subsequently acquired by Punch Taverns plc in 1999. He chaired Oriental Restaurant Group plc until its sale to Noble House in 2000 and has been chairman of The Restaurant Group plc since 2001. He is currently non-executive chairman of Charles Wells Limited and a non-executive director of De Vere Group plc and Regent Inns plc.

Omer Shvili (aged 28), Non-executive Director

Omer has been involved in the online gambling industry for several years, having co-founded iBetcha.com in 1999 and served as the company's president and chairman between 1999 and 2000. Omer was also a co-founder of BettingCorp Limited which was formed in 2000. Both iBetcha.com and BettingCorp developed proprietary online gaming platforms. In 2000, iBetcha.com was acquired by Uproar Inc., then a publicly traded company on NASDAQ which was subsequently acquired by Vivendi Universal. Between 2000 and 2002, Omer served as vice president responsible for business development within Vivendi Universal's Internet Games division in New York. In 2003, BettingCorp was acquired by OpenTV. Omer is also a co-founder and director of Skibo Partners Management Limited, a Cayman Islands' based investment management firm.

The surprise ommission from the list is undoubtedly Elad Cohen, for many years the public face of Playtech and its CEO. He seems to have dropped off the Playtech radar despite being a shareholder and deeply involved employee from the companys earliest years.