Asset freeze triggers job losses at Malta-based gaming firm
Bank account freeze of up to €51.2m pushes company to liquidation
Around 30 employees at Malta-registered technology firm River Tech have been dismissed, with at least one worker claiming staff have not yet been paid their final wages, after the company was hit by a French court order freezing a subsidiary’s bank account.
In a filing to the Oslo Stock Exchange, River Tech confirmed that all group employees, including the CEO and CFO, have been issued redundancy notices.
River Tech said a French investigating judge at the Paris Court served an order on March 13, freezing a subsidiary’s operational bank account, covering funds up to €51.2 million.
The company said the measure severely impacted its ability to continue operating, leaving it unable to secure the liquidity required to meet its obligations.
Within days, the group moved towards insolvency. On March 20, the company said it intended to seek dissolution and winding-up proceedings, with applications for both the parent company and its subsidiary filed before the Commercial Section of the Maltese Civil Court on March 23.
The company is registered in Malta, with its listed office in St Julian’s.
River Tech has not publicly detailed the full background to the French order but said it relates to a criminal investigation involving a former customer of its subsidiary, which had paid fees for services over several years. The company said the subsidiary itself has not been charged with any offence at this stage.
The developments come against the backdrop of a major French investigation into an alleged illegal online gambling network centred on a site known as Crésus Casino.
Reports about the case say French authorities suspect the network generated close to €1 billion in turnover since 2021, using mirror sites to bypass blocks and reach users in France. Two French nationals have been detained and charged in connection with the operation.
The company’s presence in Malta dates back several years. Formerly operating as River iGaming, it set up its headquarters in Sliema in 2017. In 2019, the company made around 20 employees redundant as part of a strategic shift towards focusing on certain markets and business lines, citing cost-cutting measures at the time.
The redundancies follow the loss of 120 jobs at gambling operator Aristocrat Interactive, after it announced it would shut down its Malta operation by the end of June.
The decision follows a move to wind down the company’s white-label iGaming business, according to Ambra Battiston, an anti-money laundering manager at Aristocrat Interactive, formerly Aspire Global.