What’s the Employment Outlook for the UK Gambling Industry ?

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, July 16, 2019

At first glance, the iGaming market is thriving like never before. After all, this sector delivered an impressive gross gaming yield (GGY) of £5.6 billion in the year ending September 2018, whilst iGaming grew to claim a 39% market share of the overall industry.

However, there are significant issues lying beneath the surface of the gambling market as a whole, which are threatening to undermine recent growth levels and may cast its figures in a less favourable light.

One of these issues is the employment outlook for the marketplace, which is not necessarily as bright as it was a few years ago. In this post, we’ll explore this in further detail, whilst asking what the precise labour market outlook is for the gambling industry in the UK.

A Glance at the Employment Outlook for the iGaming Market

Let’s start with the basics; as a recent report has revealed that the total number of individuals employed within the UK gambling industry has declined slightly since the beginning of 2018.

In fact, this figure has declined by approximately 1.4% during the last 18 months, seemingly in line with the performance of the gambling industry in the UK.

More specifically, adjusted figures for the year ending September 2018 showed that the overall GGY for the industry actually fell by 0.4%, with this marginal decline driven by legislative changes and the challenges being faced by bricks-and-mortar betting establishments.

In total, the total number of open betting premises declined for the fifth consecutive reporting period, as bookmakers faced up to the controversial fixed-odds betting terminal (FOBT) cap and the potential closure of up to 9,000 stores nationwide.

At the same time, reducing the maximum betting threshold from £100 to just £2 will slash bookmakers’ profits, with FOBTs accounting for 56% of their total profits.

Whilst this measure was only rolled out in April, operators have already begun to re-evaluate their strategies and offline presence. This has resulted in a 1.5% decline in the number of betting shops since October 2017, with a total of 8,423 now open and active in the UK.

The gradual decline of the UK high street has also impacted on offline gambling, with a staggering one in 12 shops across all sectors having been closed during the last five years. This has contributed to a 5.3% decrease in the number of licensed arcades in Britain, alongside a 1.1% in the amount of bingo premises in the UK.

There are now just 650 local bingo halls open nationwide, with this number having peaked in the thousands back in the 1960s.

What’s the Typical Gambling Employee Profile?

Ultimately, these significant chops and changes meant that there were 106,670 people employed by operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) as of January 2018.

However, in order to understand the outlook for the industry we need to determine the typical employee profile and ask how their skills were deployed.

According to most reports, nearly 50% of all gambling sector employees were involved with sports betting, and in this respect the impact of the FOBT cap could be considered to be particularly damning.

Not only this, but 13.3% of the gambling workforce is employed in bricks-and-mortar casinos, which actually held steady last year as the number of open establishments increased by one. At the same time, the number of people working in bingo halls was estimated at surprisingly high 11.6%, whilst 6.4% of the workforce served as gaming machine technicians.

From these figures, there are two clear takeaways. Firstly, a relatively high number of people are still employed in the offline gambling industry, with these figures yet to fell the full force of the recent legislative changes.

Secondly, it’s clear that a number of jobs will be lost as bookmakers begin to count the cost of the FOBT cap, with many likely to focus on expanding their online presence and targeting iGaming markets overseas.

The question that remains, of course, is whether or not these individuals can successfully retrain or find employment elsewhere in the gambling industry. Similarly, it has yet to be seen whether or not the potential increase in iGaming jobs can sufficiently fill this void, either in the short or the longer-term?

Can iGaming Fill the Employment Void in the Market?

Of course, it can be argued that the remote nature of the iGaming market means that there’s less demand for staff (especially from the perspective of customer-facing employees), and this means that it’s hard to imagine workers transitioning from one sector to another.

However, this is some crossover between off and online gambling, particularly when it comes to sports betting. This is an incredibly diverse service that involves a number of roles and transferable skills, including those associated with trading, bookmaking and accountancy.

Similarly, online operators rely heavily on their customer service representatives, with these individuals often the first point of contact for their fast-growing base of players. This create a significant opportunity for offline customer service reps to transfer their skills online, albeit following a period of further training and re-education.

At present, remote betting and bingo employees only account for 9.6% of the workforce, with this number having increased incrementally during the last few years. As a result, we’re likely to see a number of sports betting employees begin work in the iGaming niche, with multi-channel brands arguably able to transfer their staff members immediately.

Similarly, many of the traditional roles associated with the gambling industry (including legal counsel, marketing and management) remain prevalent online, so there’s nothing to stop people taking up positions with virtual operators if necessary.

Beyond this, the iGaming market is currently experiencing a high level of demand for numerous roles, including content management, web design, software design and technical support.

So, with a certain amount of retraining and investment in people, operators can minimise the number of job losses simply by restructuring their business model equipping employees with the skills to add value in an entirely different way.

The Last Word – What’s the Outlook for Jobs in the Gambling Industry ?

Ultimately, there’s no doubt that the gambling industry us poised for a challenging period, with online operators and establishments likely to be particularly hard hit.

However, as the iGaming niche continues to grow and claim a larger share of the overall marketplace, there’s a growing demand for online employees and this is only likely to increase further in the years to come.

As there’s a significant crossover between off and online gambling in the UK, individuals who currently work offline can deploy a number of transferable skills and simply transition to a new role in the iGaming market.

This is creating an agile and adaptable market that can cope with significant transition, whilst also minimising job losses during difficult times. Of course, this situation may change if UK operators choose to relocate or invest heavily in expanding overseas, but there’s no suggestion that either of these scenarios will unfold any time soon.