The chief information officer at the Irish Bookmaker Paddy Power, Kevin O’Connor has surprisingly left the company to join NYSE Technologies, which is part of NYSE Euronext.

The IT veteran only joined Paddy Power last summer having a gained wealth of experience from the financial service sector. At the time Paddy Power was seen to recognise that the company's technology would have to evolve to support continued growth prompting the new appointment.

It is not clear what prompted the sudden departure.

About Paddy Power

Paddy Power is Ireland's biggest and most successful bookmaker. Paddy Power operates both a retail and an online/telephone division.

Paddy Power's retail division operates a chain of licensed betting offices located throughout Ireland and in the UK. The online/telephone division operates Ireland's largest telephone Sportsbook (Paddy Power Dial-a-Bet) as well as the following online businesses: online sportsbook (paddypower.com), mobile sportsbook (paddypowermobile.com), casino (paddypowercasino.com), games (paddypowergames.com), poker (paddypowerpoker.com) and bingo (paddypowerbingo.com)

The company also markets its services in the UK and is a publicly quoted company, listed on both the Irish and London Stock Exchanges (www.paddypowerplc.com).

Paddy Power was founded in 1988 by the merger of three existing Irish high street bookmakers