Our readers may have picked up on recent references to a company titled Casino Broadcast Network, which is facilitating live dealer action using technology from the United States-based hi-tech company Kx to broadcast live casino games on the internet.
This week the Belfast Telegraph threw some light on the man behind CBN Gaming, the 44-year-old Irish entrepreneur Michael O’Neill.
Formerly the chief operating officer of financial software company First Derivatives plc, O’Neill claims he can offer the most powerful technology for bricks-and-mortar casinos to operate online.
Using the Kx technology, live games from land casinos can be syndicated to online operators like Paddy Power and Ladbrokes for ‘real money’ action by their players. CBN then retains a small percentage of the operator’s profit.
“Those online profits continue to climb aggressively – even in the present climate – a decisive factor in my decision to back the [online gambling] industry,” O’Neill told the newspaper, adding that major companies in the space have already attributed much of their recent growth to online gambling operations.
The Irish entrepreneur’s career started when he qualified as an actuary and worked at Lloyds Abbey Life before he joined First Derivatives in 1997.
He launched CBN Gaming at ICEi 2011 in London, and says that his board includes Israeli i-gaming expert Nicolas Fleiderman, former chief executive of BetnGo.