Women remain underrepresented across many roles in both the video gaming and iGaming (online gambling) sectors, especially in technical and leadership positions. Globally, women make up roughly 30% of the game industry workforce nugamers.eu, while in Europe the figure is closer to 24%. In the UK’s games industry, women comprised about 30% of employees in 2022 (up from 28% in 2020) linkedin.com. By contrast, nearly 46–50% of gamers and players worldwide are female! moonshot.newsmoonshot.news, Thus highlighting a gap between the diversity of audiences and those creating or managing gaming products.
In the iGaming (online betting and casino) sector, a recent industry-wide surveys show women now account for just under 40% of the global gambling workforce globalgamingexpo.com. This represents a slight decline in female representation compared to previous years, attributed in part to rapid growth in male-dominated segments like sports betting allindiversityproject.comallindiversityproject.com. Women are particularly scarce in technical and engineering roles that drive these industries. For example, in game development, women hold under 10% of technical jobs like programming or game design techxplore.com. A similar pattern is seen in iGaming tech teams. Entry-level roles and support functions (e.g. marketing or HR) tend to have higher female participation – in France, “Things have got better,” said Morgane Falaize, who heads Women in Games’ French chapter. She points to the growth of women employees from just 15 percent in 2018 to 24 percent in 2023 in the country.
Crucially, women’s presence diminishes at higher management levels. One study found women comprise only 16% of executive teams at the world’s top 15 gaming companiesmoonshot.news. In Europe’s games industry, only about 20% of managers were female as of 2022 techxplore.com. The All-In Diversity Project – which benchmarks diversity in the betting and gaming industry – reports that women in non-executive roles dropped from 32% to 29% in the past year globalgamingexpo.com. However, some progress is evident at the very top: thanks to regulatory and shareholder pressure, more women are joining boards and C-suites. In the EU, a new directive mandates that 40% of board seats at large companies be held by women by 2026 allindiversityproject.com, a change that is expected to accelerate female leadership appointments in European gaming firms. A number of major gambling operators already have women as CEOs or board chairs, and as of 2020 about 8 of the top 50 iGaming companies had a woman in the highest executive role soloazar.com. Still, there is a long way to go to achieve parity at all levels of decision-making.
Progress and Recent Trends (2023–2025)
Despite the gaps, the past two years have seen notable progress in awareness and incremental improvements in gender diversity. Industry-wide initiatives and public commitments are yielding some results. For instance, Women in Games (a non-profit founded in 2009 when women were only 6% of the games workforce) reports that female representation in game development climbed to 22% by 2020, and continues to risemoonshot.news. In some European countries, growth has been rapid – France saw women’s share of game industry jobs increase from 15% in 2018 to 24% in 2023, indicating a positive trajectory techxplore.com. Globally, big gaming markets like the US also show improvement; in 2022, 48% of U.S. gamers identified as female (up from 45% in 2021) moonshot.news.
Importantly, diversity and inclusion (D&I) has become a strategic priority for many leading companies. According to the All-In Diversity Project’s latest All-Index report, a growing number of firms are actively tracking metrics and setting goals. In 2024/25, 86% of surveyed gaming companies track gender diversity internally, and 50% measure their gender pay gap – a significant increase from prior years linkedin.com. Around 64% of organizations now say that creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued is “essential” to their business linkedin.com. This cultural shift at the leadership level is driving concrete action: for example, some companies have achieved near gender-parity on their boards or executive committees, and a few have even reported eliminating their gender pay gap through systematic adjustments entaingroup.com. High-profile female appointments, such as female CEOs at major iGaming operators like Entain and Bet365 – also signal progress and provide role models at the top.
However, alongside these gains, there have been setbacks and persistent challenges. The same All-In Diversity data revealed that overall female representation in the gambling workforce actually dipped below 40% for the first time in the index’s history globalgamingexpo.com. In other words, despite more awareness, the industry’s rapid growth (especially in sports betting) has not equally benefited women, resulting in a relative decline in their share of roles. Additionally, women’s representation in non-leadership positions fell slightly (from 32% to 29%), indicating potential issues in recruitment or retention of women at entry and mid-levels. The past two years have also seen reminders that representation alone does not equal inclusion: multiple gaming companies were rocked by revelations of sexism and harassment. In 2021–2023, firms like Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft faced lawsuits and public scandals over hostile work environments for women techxplore.com. As recently as 2023, former executives at Ubisoft were set to face trial in France for sexual harassment allegations, underscoring that toxic culture issues remain a barrier. These setbacks have somewhat slowed the momentum, and industry professionals caution that progress is fragile – gains in diversity can regress without sustained commitment.
On balance, the trend since 2023 is cautiously optimistic – more women are entering gaming and iGaming careers and rising to senior roles than ever before, and companies are increasingly vocal about diversity. Yet, the data and recent events make clear that the industry must double down to address entrenched barriers if it is to maintain and accelerate this progress.
Industry Initiatives Driving Change
Across the global gaming and betting sectors, a range of initiatives and programs are actively promoting gender diversity and inclusion:
- Dedicated Networks and Non-Profits: Organizations like Women in Games and Global Gaming Women have expanded significantly. Women in Games now has chapters in multiple countries and provides mentorship, career resources, and advocacy to grow the ranks of women in the industry moonshot.news. In the iGaming sphere, groups such as Women in iGaming (supported by companies like Uplatform) raise awareness of women’s underrepresentation by participating in conferences and industry events soloazar.com. These networks offer a support community and amplify female voices, helping women connect and find opportunities in what were traditionally male-dominated fields.
- All-In Diversity Project: An industry-led initiative, All-In Diversity Project, has become a central force in benchmarking and guiding D&I efforts in gambling. Through its annual All-Index survey, it provides hard data on workforce demographics and best practices across global betting and gaming companies muckrack.com. The project’s findings have spurred firms to adopt more transparency – as noted, a majority now track gender metrics, and half measure pay equity linkedin.com. All-In also facilitates knowledge-sharing on policies that work, effectively setting a higher standard that top operators are eager to meet. Notably, the 2023 All-Index recognized companies like PENN Entertainment, Entain, and Aristocrat as leaders in inclusion, spotlighting their success in diversifying teams.
- Corporate D&I Programs: Many large gaming and iGaming companies have launched internal programs to attract, retain, and advance women. For example, Betsson Group (a major European online gambling operator) created a “Women at Betsson” program to empower female employees soloazar.com. The company conducts regular internal pay benchmarking to ensure equal pay for equal work and supports external initiatives like tech conferences and engineering networks for women. Likewise, Entain (owner of Ladbrokes, Coral, etc.) has a thriving Women@Entain employee resource group and has publicly committed to targets such as 40% female representation on its board and leadership team entaingroup.com. Game development studios are also stepping up; e.g., EA, Microsoft, and Ubisoft have all established mentorship programs for women and set diversity hiring goals (often shared via annual diversity reports).
- Recognition and Awards: The industry has begun celebrating successes in diversity to incentivize change. The annual Women in Gaming Diversity Awards, held in London since 2010, recognize individuals and organizations driving inclusion in iGaming. In 2023, companies like IGT, SOFTSWISS, and others were finalists and winners for categories such as Diversity & Inclusion Initiative of the Year. These awards, along with profiles of influential women in gaming (e.g. iGaming Business’s Most Influential Women list igamingbusiness.com), serve to highlight role models. Seeing women leaders being honored – and companies rewarded for diversity – sends a message that inclusion is both valued and achievable.
- Regulatory and Industry Bodies: In Europe and the UK, regulators and trade bodies are increasingly vocal about diversity. The European Commission’s “Women on Boards” directive (applicable to all EU member states) is compelling companies (including gaming firms) to appoint more women to top roles, with the 40% board quota by 2026 as mentioned allindiversityproject.com. The UK’s games industry association (Ukie) runs the RaiseTheGame diversity pledge, uniting over 200 gaming companies in commitments to improve workplace inclusion and publishing an annual Industry Census to track progress ukie.org.uk. Meanwhile, national gambling regulators have started to incorporate diversity considerations – for instance, the UK Gambling Commission has discussed the importance of research into women’s experiences (as players and employees) as part of its broader safer gambling and industry improvement initiatives gamblingcommission.gov.uk. In Cyprus, the National Betting Authority’s leadership itself models inclusion (with a woman, Ioanna Fiakkou, having served as Chair of the NBA since 2015) and the regulator has participated in regional summits emphasizing the value of diversity for the sectors gw.cynba.gov.cy.
Notably, industry conferences now regularly feature panels and workshops on diversity and gender equality. At the upcoming 6th Annual Cyprus Gaming Show 2025, for example, a panel titled “Women in iGaming: Promoting Diversity at All Levels of the Industry” is set to discuss how the sector can become more inclusive across leadership and operations linkedin.com. Such forums, whether in Cyprus, the UK or globally, help maintain momentum by allowing professionals to share experiences and strategies – effectively normalizing the conversation around diversity in gaming.
