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NEW CHAPTER: IS THE SECTOR GRAPPLING WITH A REDUNDANCY CRISIS?
Off the back of Catena Media confirming further layoffs in Q1, Imogen Goodman considers whether the gambling sector is facing a redundancy crisis and the reasons behind these mass industry cutbacks
E xhibiting at this year’ s
iGaming NEXT conference in early May, recruitment company TalentBet found itself busier than ever. However, rather than a surge in corporate clients, the stand was overwhelmed with industry employees who had found themselves back on the job market.
“ 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.
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 notoriously, Malta-based Catena Media hit the news in May when it announced another round of redundancies.
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”
72 • ISSUE 138 • iGB L! VE 2025