Is the iGaming sector grappling with a redundancy crisis?  

Exhibiting at this year’s iGaming NEXT conference in Valletta in early May, recruitment company TalentBet found itself busier than ever. But rather than a surge in corporate clients, the stand was overwhelmed with industry employees who had found themselves back on the market due to redundancy.

“A lot of people came to us as candidates, including some people from S-Tech who said they’d been made redundant,” Sennette Lam, CEO of the Malta-based recruiter, explains. Despite being good quality candidates with plenty of experience, they were suddenly facing redundancy and scouring the local jobs market.  

Scanning the pages of LinkedIn tells a similar story about redundancies in the industry: a sea of “Open to Work” banners and posts about iGaming professionals looking for new opportunities. While layoffs have been more common in the post-pandemic years, recruiters say there has been an even more noticeable upswing recently.  

“There are definitely a lot of redundancies at the moment, not just in specific markets but across the industry as a whole,” says Jennifer Innes, CEO of UK-based recruiter BettingJobs. Beginning in the aftermath of Covid-19, the past few years have spurred a dramatic rise in candidates who are forced to start polishing their CV.  

‘Emergence of new locations’ 

In the tight-knit offshore communities like Malta and Gibraltar, employees are feeling the shift more keenly. In these smaller jurisdictions, waves of layoffs can start to feel like cataclysmic changes in the employment landscape.  

The job cuts appear to be penetrating all areas of the industry, from operators to suppliers and even affiliates. Most notably, Malta-based Catena Media hit the news last week when it announced another round of redundancies to bolster profitability after poor results in Q1.

This year, around 50 jobs are being scrapped – on top of the 29 content and market roles the affiliate cut last November. At the time, CEO Manuel Stan had said he planned to “rule out” further layoffs, but a 40% drop in Q1 profit prompted a major U-turn. 

Catena isn’t the only one: In March last year, Gibraltar’s Gambling Commissioner Andrew Lyman admitted there had been a spate of redundancies on the peninsula, including at well-established brands like William Hill, Entain and Lottoland.  

Are iGaming hubs shrinking?

At the time, Lyman sought to reassure people that employees in gaming were usually quickly reabsorbed into the market. However, recruitment experts say the situation is more complicated than that.  

“Igaming hubs like Malta and Gibraltar are always going to be very important to the sector, but their importance recently has been somewhat diluted,” says Innes.  

“You’ve got the emergence of other locations like Bulgaria, Prague or Poland, or even the re-emergence of places like Cyprus. Then you’ve got people from Ukraine and Russia moving elsewhere since the start of the war. All these external factors are influencing the choice to hire or not to hire in Malta and Gibraltar.” 

This fragmentation can make life more complicated for employees in these offshore hubs who find themselves facing redundancy. Whereas many jobs in the gaming market had previously been concentrated in their jurisdiction, a reshaping of the market is forcing people to look even further afield.   

What’s behind the recent spate of redundancies? 

While news of layoffs and cut backs can sound the alarm, it is not necessarily a sign of an industry in decline. In many cases, in fact, many experts simply see a natural course correction after the boom of the corona years.  

This phenomenon was highlighted by Bally’s CEO Lee Fenton in an earnings call back in 2023, as many online gaming companies started laying off their staff apace. “The pandemic boosted our business and we continued to hire at full pelt,” he told investors. “I now can see that we may have over-hired in some areas and I take full responsibility for that.” 

In Malta, TalentBet CEO Lam has seen several examples of major companies going on a hiring offensive in growth phases, only to cut back at a later date.  

“Companies scaled up very fast and then, once they settled a little bit, or the market settled, they realised they don’t need all of these people,” she says. “It’s not that they don’t need that role; it’s that they don’t need that many people in that role.” 

Innes believes the industry took a bit of time to adjust to new post-pandemic realities. “During Covid times, it was certainly the case that a lot of companies had a boom in terms of customer volumes,” she says. “It may have taken a bit longer for these customers to stop playing, or the real ramifications to be felt internally with a lot of operators and suppliers.” 

Once they did, however, the layoffs began.  

Consolidation driving iGaming redundancies

Another major driver of redundancies is the industry’s increasing consolidation. As big brands complete mergers and acquisitions, they often look for ways to cut costs and make efficiencies.  

This was the case back in 2022, when 888 bought up William Hill’s non-US assets for £2.2 billion. The acquisition was followed by numerous redundancies – including on the rock. At Malta-based Hero Gaming, meanwhile, dozens of staff were laid off in 2023 in a restructuring process designed to pave the way for new acquisitions.  

Recent layoffs have been reported at Entain’s Gibraltar office, as the operator has restructured a lot of its UK-facing business over the past couple of years, to target renewed growth efforts in the core market.  

Regulatory burdens and new technologies  

Alongside some of the more traditional reasons for cutting staff – like M&A deals and efficiency savings – recent redundancies have also been prompted by new developments in the industry. 

For remote gambling companies, emerging gaming hubs like UAE are exerting a strong pull, with some companies deciding to make cutbacks as they move their operations to new locations.  

In other cases, it is fresh regulations that are threatening jobs in offshore jurisdictions. In key gaming markets like Brazil and the Netherlands, for example, staff are required to be based in the country, putting operators under pressure to relocate their workforce.  

Another major shift in the industry has been the growth of new technologies. Long considered hype, artificial intelligence (AI) has started to make its presence felt in the volatile gambling job market.  

“There have been a few companies recently that have announced redundancies because they’re replacing certain positions with AI,” Innes explains. “That’s something that’s only really been witnessed truly in the last six months or certainly the first part of this year.” 

At the moment, the automation of certain roles is mostly affecting those in junior positions. That includes customer-facing roles like fraud and payments communications with customers. Nevertheless, automation through AI is likely to remain a major topic in the coming months and years as brands look for ways to cut their costs and leverage new technologies. 

Of course, this won’t necessarily remain one-sided: Innes believes that as AI develops, new business opportunities and jobs will emerge with it, such as project managers who can help companies implement new AI-driven processes and solutions. 

“The scale is tipping in the redundancy side at the moment,” she says. “But I do believe that it will level itself out.” 

Life after redundancy 

In Malta’s bustling economy, Lam says redundancy tends to be a short-term situation for most in iGaming, with good candidates getting snapped up quickly.  

“I’ve been working in gaming recruitment for over 10 years and it’s just continuously growing – it never slows down,” she says. “That means there’s always a need for these people with this experience, whether it’s for an established company or a startup, there’s always someone that’s going to need the skill set.” 

Even amid trickier market conditions, TalentBet’s Lam says she rarely sees candidates on the market for more than a month or so. Depending on the role, a suitable job can be found in a matter of weeks. Junior roles such as customer service may take a matter of days to place, while senior roles could take much longer.  

Innes agrees that the situation is far less dramatic for gaming employees than people might believe.  

“If you look purely at LinkedIn and people posting and saying how difficult it is to get roles, you may falsely feel that the industry is not as vibrant or as buoyant as it is,” she says. “But I do think there are roles there. There will always be positions available for anyone with strong industry experience.” 

That said, there are differences between the two jurisdictions: While BettingJobs has seen an uptick in placements in Malta this year compared to in 2024, there were zero placements in Gibraltar in the first quarter.  

Innes attributes this to the wealth of highly regulated, tier-one operators on the island, many of whom are struggling in the wake of Brexit.  

“We talk about Malta and Gibraltar where there have been redundancies made,” she says. “But I think it may be more drastically felt by individuals in Gibraltar.” 

A new world of work  

Being made redundant can be a frightening situation for employees, although many also take it as an opportunity to take stock and consider their next step.  

This might involve taking new courses to refresh or update their skills, or doing some soul-searching about what they truly want from a role and where they want to live. In 2025, Lam says, many iGaming candidates who have been laid off are keen to find remote-working options.  

Many companies have caught up to this burgeoning trend, with the vast majority of TalentBet’s 80-plus clients offering either remote or hybrid working. According to Lam, just two or three have held on to a fully office-based work environment, while the rest largely split the week between home and the office.  

As some firms start to transition back to office-based roles, however, the demand for remote work is becoming one of the major hurdles to placing candidates quickly.  

“We’re not seeing a lot of desperate redundant people coming through the doors,” Lam says. “We’re seeing people that have been made redundant but are being fussier about the next step for them, since they finally have the opportunity for a change.”  

For firms insisting that employees come to the office, it can be much harder to match the ideal candidate.  

“We’re very honest with them and say, ‘We can search for this, but you’re going to miss out on really good people,’” Lam adds. “There may be someone who’s fantastic for the role, but who really wants flexibility.” 

Nevertheless, Innes says the employees on BettingJob’s books tend to be pragmatic and realistic when assessing the market: they realise they may not get the high salaries or perks they had been used to before but are open to looking at offers. 

Embracing change  

For individuals looking for work after a layoff, Innes’ advice is clear: Be creative and flexible and recognise where skills can be transferred to other roles. Employees should also make sure their CV truly packs a punch, she said, and not be afraid of seeking expert advice if they need it. 

Regardless of how long it may take, however, the key is not to lose faith.  

“The industry is so dynamic and entrepreneurial and vibrant and it does offer fantastic career opportunities to individuals,” the BettingJobs CEO explains. “Yes, there have been redundancies, but there is also the emergence of new technologies, of new iGaming hubs. And if you’re willing to embrace that, then the gaming industry is going to embrace you back, right?”