Neteller PLC says it has cut 220 jobs in Calgary and is considering the sale or partial lease of some of its facilities in the city as it responds to a dramatic decrease in its North American business in recent months.
The online transaction processing company, which is registered in the Isle of Man and has corporate offices in the United Kingdom, has also announced on its website that it will cut 30 jobs in the U.K. as part of the latest downsizing move.
Neteller is among the companies that have been badly hurt by new U.S. legislation, enacted last fall, that makes it illegal to pay for online gambling debts by credit card or debit card, or other electronic means.
Neteller said previously that it would exit the U.S. market, but remain active elsewhere in the world.
Following the latest restructuring, Neteller has 425 staff worldwide, down from a peak of more than 1,000 in 2006.
Last month, U.S. federal prosecutors announced they had arrested and charged two Neteller founders - both Canadian citizens - accusing them of laundering billions of dollars in gambling proceeds.
The charges against the former Neteller PLC directors, John David Lefebvre, 55, and Stephen Eric Lawrence, 46, were contained in two criminal complaints unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Jan. 16.
Lawrence, who lives in the Bahamas, was arrested in January on the island of St. John on a warrant from the U.S. Attorney's office in New York.
Lefebvre, was arrested in Malibu, Calif., where he lives.
The men founded Neteller in 1999 and the company began processing Internet gambling transactions in 2000.
Lawrence left the company's board of directors in October 2006 while Lefebvre left in December 2005, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said last month that the men knew when they took their company public that its activities were illegal.
Trading of Neteller's shares has been halted on London's AIM international market for smaller companies.