The All-In Diversity Project, an industry-led not-for-profit initiative seeking to benchmark diversity, equality and inclusion across the global betting and gaming industry has just released its first study on the sector’s workforce. The All-Index interim report for Q3 2018 starts to paint a picture of employee demographics and employment practices around the world.
Tellingly, it shows that the betting and gambling sectors surpass US and UK national averages with 28% women taking up roles at board level.
There were some key findings that appear to support some, but debunk other assumptions about industry stereotypes, as well as statistics that point to where we need to focus our efforts in the future. The data supplied by the first 25 organisations to take part (representing between them over 100 global brands), indicates a near 50:50 split overall with 46.5% of the total 117,000+ employees identified as women.
Whilst initial results confirm that the sector is not immune from the same ‘leaky pipeline’ experienced in other industries, it does appear to buck the trend in some key areas with a higher than average percentage of women in tech as well as at board level. Equally surprising 18% of jobs in “risk” – a discipline considered by many to be almost completely male-dominated are held by women.
The survey covers a number of areas including employment policies and practices, benefits and proactive strategies supporting equality, diversity and inclusion. “This is the first initiative on this topic where the sector has collaborated on a global scale, and we are very pleased with the end result,” said Kelly Kehn, co-founder of All-In Diversity Project. “Those who have signed up believe in the need for collaboration and transparency in order to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce for the future.”
“Whilst diversity surveys per se are not new this, to the best of our knowledge, is the very first initiative which seeks to measure all forms of diversity across a whole sector on a global basis. We know there will be challenges along the way, but by choosing to collaborate and share best practice we hope to drive long-term impactful change in our sector, and in doing so perhaps provide a blueprint for others,” added co-founder Christina Thakor-Rankin.
SBCA takeaway:
The All-Index report makes for encouraging reading for proponents of diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace, especially in betting and gambling which have historically been regarded as male dominated sectors of business. It indicates that while there is a long way to go, things are beginning to change, and that’s nowhere more evident than in the US sports betting arena where it’s women who appear to be making a difference at the highest level. We witnessed as much during the recent post-PASPA house judiciary committee hearing with Becky Harris, chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and Sarah Slane, VP of public affairs at the AGA, fighting from the front on behalf of the industry. On that occasion they showed that women aren’t merely equal to men in such challenging environments, in some respects they’re streets ahead.
