Gender equality has been a significant topic in the corporate world over the last 50 years. While corporate attitudes have certainly improved from where they were half a century ago, it’s still crucial that it remains a major talking point in business.
Unfortunately, significant pay gaps remain, especially in executive and boardroom-level roles. We will explore how the online casino industry has attempted to bridge this gap and why some companies are bucking this trend and paying female executives the same as their male counterparts for the same types of jobs.
Dynamics of the online casino industry
Unlike some other corporations that have chronic, systemic gender equality issues that need to be addressed, sometimes by independent regulators, the dynamics of the online casino industry work in a slightly different manner.
If we break down the online casino industry, it is more geared towards men than women. Studies conducted by various think tanks and companies have shown that men are far more likely to gamble than women. While this statistic can vary slightly, it indicates that 65-70% of gamblers are men while the percentage of women is roughly half that.
We’re looking at this through the prism of studies conducted in the UK, the US and Australia. While this breakdown becomes more interesting when you observe the types of games each gender plays, there’s no denying that there’s more of a market for male gamblers than women, but that’s not quite the whole picture.
On a base level, this means that the marketing and, often, the executive positions within casino companies are male-orientated, which is more reflective of gambling patterns. However, the disparity between the number of females in executive positions still needs to be addressed.
Lower down the hierarchy
The internet’s DIY nature has resulted in the emergence of online gambling experts and analysts who can create their own brands online from the ground up. This has meant that the number of women involved at different levels of the industry has risen.
For instance, leading professional Sadonna Price – Online Sweepstakes Expert, fits this category. Although she is a leading voice in the industry, casino experts are more often male. As Sadonna has proven, the top female experts in online casinos are just as knowledgeable as their male colleagues. It’s intriguing to see the emergence of women in sweepstakes casinos as they do not have the same dynamic as traditional casinos.
As mentioned earlier, men are more likely to gamble at traditional casinos than women are. However, when you remove real money wagers and prizes as sweepstakes casinos do, and focus instead on in-game tokens, it turns out that women are 53% more likely to play at sweepstakes casinos than men according to a study released in April 2024.
This figure increases even more significantly when you explore individual games. It’s thought that around three-quarters of bingo players globally are women. So, the idea that men are more likely to gamble, and this is the reason it is reflected in the board room at top online casino platforms, is a fallacy that continues to strengthen the glass ceiling in what is otherwise a forward-thinking, dynamic and innovative industry.
The rise of female executives
While there have been great strides in the corporate world, recent figures have shown that plenty of work still needs to be done. In 2022, a study showed that female executives earn a staggering 25% less than men for the same roles.
While this can vary significantly depending on the industry, the online casino gaming business has championed the rise of pioneering female figures, the most notable of which is Denise Coates, a self-made billionaire who turned a small gambling company into one of the most profitable and innovative gambling platforms in the world.
She is now the wealthiest woman in the UK and has truly broken through the glass ceiling. As the CEO and founder of Bet365, the hope is that Denise will be able to lay the foundations for women looking to get their fair share of pay, and it is the clearest example of how the rise of female executives in the casino industry could result in a seismic change in broader corporate culture.
Denise is not an anomaly in the industry, although she would’ve been when she first started her career in the mid-1990s. Recently, there have been other women in senior roles in the online casino business, most notably Amy Howe of FanDuel and Jette Nygaard-Andersen, former CEO of Entain.
How it impacts the wider industry
While it wouldn’t be right to create generic sweeping statements about men and women CEOs in the industry, Amy Howe has made waves over the last couple of years as she aims to shift the conversation away from the high-paying marketing budgets that many casinos operate — which she has called unsustainable.
She believes a better idea would be to focus adverts on those gamers looking to play specific games and tailor the adverts accordingly, rather than broad, scattergun approaches that can be hit and miss and have led to some serious market saturation.
Casino frequenters only need to look at their email inboxes to see how many no-deposit bonuses, free spins vouchers or codes they have. The industry is inundated with them, so a new approach could be needed, and it has been championed by the leading female names in the online casino industry.
Again, it’s not a position that all female executives take, but there’s been a rather rigid approach to online casino promotions over the last few years, with many falling back into predictable patterns and uninspiring ideas.
The idea is shaking it up, aiming directly at customers and providing bonuses for the games they play. Not only is this changing the corporate culture, but by pushing for new ideas and dynamic shifts within the industry, female executives are finally starting to get their much deserved say on the industry’s future shape.
A welcome shift in the landscape
Any industry that fails to achieve balance and only has one type of demographic or voice is not appealing to its wider audience. Millions of women enjoy gambling games, with bingo and lottery competitions bringing in huge audiences. This needs to be reflected at the top of the industry in the same way it does at the bottom.
Plenty of female sports betting markets also need to have the same types of representation further up the corporate hierarchy. While pioneering businesswomen have aimed to create spaces where female sports fans can go and watch their teams play, until there’s clear visibility at the top of these industries and a solid track record of influential decisions by female leaders within these fields, the industry is still going to suffer from the same sort of labels that plague other industries — and it’s not uncalled for either.
Emphasis on safe gambling
The casino gaming industry has often been accused of prioritizing profits over people. While there are plenty of forward-thinking, responsible gambling experts at the legislative level and within casino gaming boardrooms, there’s always more that can be done to tackle these issues.
Female executives have begun pivoting this focus; it’s not just empty words either, which is what some in the industry have been accused of in the past. By changing how casino companies target their demographic and tailor their marketing strategy accordingly, they will aim to send the right marketing offers to specific gamers.
Although it’s a big shift in an approach that has been welded into the industry for over a decade now, it’ll help perfect advertising and identify those customers who may be exhibiting issues with their gambling.
If you know anybody who appears to be struggling with their gambling, there are multiple organizations online that can provide information and assistance. Responsible gambling involves setting strict time and monetary limits you adhere to and not viewing gambling as a job or anything that will ultimately provide you with a profit. If you or somebody you know begins gambling with money they can’t afford to lose, then seeking assistance is vital.
Final thoughts
Although inequality in the casino industry is still as evident as it is in other corporate worlds, the emergence of top executives over the last few years has done wonders for the industry as it aims to become one of the pioneers and bastions of change that will result in more female representation at the board-room level with female executives being paid the same as male executives who do the same job.
To say the rise of female executives has impacted the online casino industry wouldn’t quite encompass it. The wealthiest woman in the UK is an online betting CEO. If anything, the online casino industry is showing many other industries how it should be done.
