Poker News

An Irish newspaper is reporting that a company associated with Full Tilt Poker, the second largest online poker operation in the industry, has shown tremendous expansion over the past two years and will add even more jobs in 2011.

The article, which appears in the Irish Times, states that Pocket Kings, Ltd., Full Tilt Poker’s main service provider, will add 100 jobs. With the increase in positions, the Dublin-based Pocket Kings will now provide 800 jobs to specialized technicians and marketing personnel. The article also names Ray Bitar, the founder of Full Tilt Poker, as one of the directors of Pocket Kings.

The new jobs are expected to focus on specific areas, including analysts for the Italian, German, and French markets and customer service agents for the Norwegian, Japanese, Greek, Russian, Hebrew, and Korean markets. Several websites including IrishJobs.ie and Pocket Kings’ corporate outlet give an indication of what positions are open inside the company.

IrishJobs.ie presents 18 positions that Pocket Kings is looking to fill. They include customer service agents who can speak or write Russian, Cantonese, Korean, Norwegian, and Italian, with different shifts available. Other positions such as a Data Support Specialist, Director of Database Engineering, and Client Developer are also available. The jobs have a healthy compensation program, with the lowest salary coming in at €20,000 (roughly $27,000) and other jobs having compensation of €100,000 ($136,000) or more.

The Pocket Kings corporate website lists every position that the company offers, including IT, Marketing, and Business Support. The Irish Times reports that, although a position may be filled, Pocket Kings is looking to build a file of applicants for future growth. The spokesperson quoted in the article states that Pocket Kings would recruit any future jobs through this database.

Beyond the new jobs, the Irish Times report also details the growth of Full Tilt Poker’s operation in Ireland over the past couple of years.

According to a spokesperson for Pocket Kings, the company has more than doubled its personnel since 2009. The Irish Times also reports that the company had 390 employees in April of that year. Although Pocket Kings has shown an increase in personnel, the Irish Times article explains that revenues have been adversely affected by the worldwide financial downturn.

In statements only recently filed with Ireland’s government, Pocket Kings’ pre-tax profits declined by 26% from €8.0 million to €5.9 million in April 2009. Its gross profit fell 5% from €47.1 million to €44.7 million. These numbers give a glimmer into Full Tilt Poker’s financial situation, as the company is a private entity and not traded on any financial exchange; as such, it does not file public financial statements.

The new jobs being created at Pocket Kings demonstrate what many have said could happen in the United States if online gaming were licensed and regulated. An April 2010 report by H2 Gambling Capital, an English gaming consulting company, determined that over 32,000 jobs would be created as a result of government regulation over the course of five years.

The study also showed that regulated internet gaming in the United States would top $94 billion over the same period, generating $57 billion in tax revenues. These are all potentially heady numbers for government officials throughout the United States, who are facing nearly 10% unemployment and significant budget shortfalls at the Federal and state levels.

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