Israeli gaming company Playwise is closing its doors, Calcalist has reported. Almost 100 people have lost their jobs as a result of the decision made by AsianLogic which controlled Playwise.
No reason has as of yet been given for the company’s closing
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Based in Petah Tikva, the company was founded in 2012 by Yossi Ganot and Oded Gil as the research and development division of Philippine gaming company AsianLogic. Notice of the closing was issued last week by the Philippine company.
While startup nation gets all the buzz for its success stories including its multimillion IPOs and buy outs, many forget that it has its fair share of failures too. The media does not talk about all the startups that never even get off the ground.
Another dirty secret of Israel’s high tech success story is that much of it is tied to the multi-billion dollar on line gambling industry. Many gaming web sites have their research and development divisions (the people who create and maintain the gambling sites) in Israel. This in spite of the fact that it is against Israeli law for Israeli residents to gamble on line.
A source told Calcalist about the closing that, “employees were surprised by the decision [to close], just several months after the company launched a campaign to recruit employees.”
Established in 2002, AsianLogic offers live video broadcasts of casino games and now serves as a distributor of Playtech games in the Asia-Pacific region.
Playwise was responsible for developing a series of casino games such as casino, poker, sports betting and multiplayer games offered in real time for Asian Logic.
Yossi Ganot sold his stake in the company a year ago and it is no longer active in it.
