Dirk Urpani announced that he will be starting a new adventure with professional services firm RMC Wise in January, after a seven-month stint with Genesis Global Limited, a Malta-based iGaming firm that made headlines two days before Christmas when it informed staff that it had filed for insolvency and would be letting its 140-staff complement go.

Mr Urpani will be joining the Floriana-based professional services firm in January as Head of Legal. Prior to this, he served as Group Money Laundering Officer with Genesis Global.

Taking to social media on Sunday, Mr Urpani admitted to an “eventful seven months” at Genesis, adding that the experience was a learning experience, and that “regardless of the sour manner in which it ended”, he holds “no regrets” when considering the knowledge obtained and the colleagues he met along the way.

He thanked his community for reaching out when the news broke of the company’s insolvency, revealing that he had personally given his respective notice last month.

On the new job, he shared that he is looking forward to contributing to the further development of the company.

Genesis Global saga

Two days before Christmas, the company informed its Malta-based staff, where its headquarters were held, that they were being laid off as the firm was no longer financially viable.

Workers were informed their last working day would be 22nd January 2023, and the company cautioned that it may not be able to pay all or any of wages owed, which “may include December salary, any outstanding salaries to cover this thirty-day period and any outstanding notice due that may be due to [staff] or any other statutory payments which may be due,” reads a letter to workers.

The company had already began laying off workers in recent weeks, lending credence to rumours that had been circling for some months about the company’s future.

2022 proved to be a difficult year for Geneisis Global. In January it was hit with a £3.8 million (€4.5 million) fine after having its licence to operate in the UK suspended by the country’s gambling regulator, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

When the news of the mass lay-offs was revealed, Malta’s Government issued a statement to say every effort was being undertaken to assist effected workers to seek alternative employment, and that the iGaming industry in Malta had around 700 active vacancies.