Why iGaming is set to be a disruptor in global hiring
The rapidly growing iGaming industry has an opportunity to lead the competition in the search for global talent by setting the gold standard for a new type of global hybrid workplace.
iGaming has exploded in recent years, bringing with it a massive demand for a highly varied global workforce. It’s an industry that is only just getting started, as large regulated markets open up in Latin America, the US, India, and Africa, offering the rare promise of a career in a dynamically growing business at the digital avant-garde.
The iGaming industry is expected to grow to a sizable $184.28 billion in 2032, a 190% increase from 10 years earlier, according to data from Statista. The online sports betting industry, which makes up about a third of total online gambling revenues, currently employs 200,000, Statista estimates.
The roles are endless, with an increasing demand for tech professionals given advances in payments, cyber security, VR, and AI. There is also high demand for international lawyers to tackle the complex compliance landscape, government relations experts, designers, mathematicians, and many more.
As a purely digital industry, iGaming is well adapted to take advantage of the move towards hybrid working models, offering employees a wide variety of options, whether it’s fully remote, in-person or somewhere in between. This gives iGaming companies the added benefit of being able to compete globally for talent, giving them an edge over more traditional industries.
To be sure, iGaming is not alone in this enviable position. Other digital businesses such as neobanks and other fintechs have similar advantages. However, while iGaming is ready for exponential growth that will likely override economic swings over the next decade, fintechs are struggling with higher interest rates and a slow economy that has led to layoffs and reduced hiring.
Also, as fintechs mature, they tend to start to look more like traditional businesses, often required by regulators to open offices in the jurisdictions in which they operate. This is not the case for iGaming, an industry that can maintain a lean workforce even as it matures.
At Energame, we empower our employees to work in the way they want to. Some of our employees choose to work at the company’s headquarters in Limassol, or at one of our other locations, while some choose to work fully remotely. To facilitate those choices, we offer co-working or home workplace compensation, worldwide health insurance, as well as retreats to help build strong team connections.
Of course, iGaming does have recruiting challenges. Ethical concerns about problem gambling and unscrupulous operators will be a headwind. However, the industry is taking steps to identify and tackle gambling addiction through a combination of education and early intervention when problem gambling patterns are identified, often using AI.
Although only affecting a relatively small number of people — a recent report identified problem gamblers as just 0.3% of the general population — it clearly has an outsized impact on individual lives, and more needs to be done to tackle the problem.
As more jurisdictions regulate iGaming, such as the legislation that is currently being introduced in Brazil and looks set to follow in other countries of Latin America, unethical operators will be marginalized, leading to a progressively more responsible and better industry.
Creating a more diverse workplace is another area where the industry is improving. Energame is among the leaders in this area: women make up 38% of our senior leadership team, 49% of our management team and 44% of our overall workforce. There is little industry-wide data, but our own analysis found that, on average, women made up about one third of managers and just over one fifth of senior leadership.
By actively addressing these concerns and leveraging the benefits inherent in the business model, the growth path of the iGaming industry means it is set to become a go-to destination for a mobile and savvy workforce across a huge range of skill sets.
Renata Karpenko is the Chief People and Operations Officer at Energame, a management consultancy and an investment advisory firm specialized in online entertainment.
