In the first of a new series of columns for iGamingExpert, Consultant and former 888 Holdings CEO Itai Pazner previews his upcoming appearance at the SBC Summit panel – Workforce Realities: Uncertainty or Opportunity in 2026?
Over the last two decades, the gambling industry has transformed through rapid online expansion, international consolidation, and shifting regulations. But as we look ahead to 2026, the story is less about unchecked growth and more about uncertainty.
Today, three forces are shaping the workforce: artificial intelligence (AI), mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and taxation. AI promises efficiency but limits hiring, M&A threatens upheaval when big integrations occur, and taxation directly forces headcount reductions. The question is not whether the industry will change, but how companies adapt and whether employees can keep pace.
AI: promise, anxiety and practical limits
No topic has dominated the media, boardrooms and conference halls more than artificial intelligence. The discussion is polarising: some fear AI will cause mass layoffs, while others see it as a once-in-a-generation tool for efficiency and creativity.
So far, the industry has not seen truly AI-native operators. It is still early days for AI but the combination of regulatory complexities and the unique systems that regulated operators need to integrate, plus licensing requirements and product certifications, make it more difficult for AI-first companies to emerge in the gambling industry than in some other sectors.
What we are seeing instead are legacy operators – Flutter, Entain, Betsson, Kindred and more – experimenting with AI to modernise legacy systems and enhance their operational capabilities in, for example, customer support, data analytics, creative development and code writing.
The changes are incremental: marketing teams using automated systems for media buying and generative AI for developing creative assets; analysts running faster and automated reporting analytical outputs; and developers speeding up coding with copilots.
But legacy platforms are notoriously complex. They were built 10–20 years ago to serve multiple regulated markets with complex integrations to third parties for regulatory and commercial purposes. You cannot simply bolt AI onto these systems without a fundamental rebuild. That makes widespread replacement of human labour unrealistic in the short term.
Evoke CEO Per Widerström was one of the first CEOs to announce a company-wide commitment to automation. Such shifts will take years, but they highlight a direction of travel that others will follow.
That doesn’t yet mean mass layoffs but it does mean fewer new jobs. The industry is shifting from hiring to fill demand to extracting more from the teams already in place – enforcing the use of AI tools to enhance productivity. Of course, there is some resistance – change is scary – but employees who fail to integrate AI into at least half their day-to-day tasks risk being left behind and will be the first to be made redundant.
M&A: from synergies to strategic extension
Mergers and acquisitions have long shaped the iGaming landscape, and with them has come much workforce anxiety. Historically, synergetic M&A – such as bwin’s merger with Partygaming or GVC’s acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral or Flutter’s acquisition of Stars Group or 888’s acquisition of William Hill – were justified financially by synergies, which in effect means to cut costs through organisational optimisation.
But after years of frenzied consolidation, the current cycle feels different. The big deals have largely been done, and today’s M&A is more about complementary expansion: acquiring technology, entering new markets, or diversifying product offerings. Recent moves – such as leading operators buying regional leaders, games studios, or technology – typically add capabilities and diversification rather than duplicating them. These transactions are less likely to trigger mass job losses.
Still, the potential for disruption is real. If the rumours came true, a merger of DraftKings and Bet365 could create major synergies in technology and people. DraftKings is strong in the US, while Bet365 dominates internationally. Both have their own sportsbook technology and trading teams – duplicating resources that, in theory, could be streamlined. But this would take years and even well-planned migrations stretch timelines and strain resources. Large-scale platform migrations are extremely difficult and companies inevitably underestimate the difficulty.
Flutter hasn’t merged most of the operators it has acquired. That’s a deliberate strategic choice after seeing first-hand the difficulty of merging the Betfair and Paddy Power platforms. Since then it has maintained separate platforms in most jurisdictions rather than forcing a single global system, which left their regional businesses to operate with more flexibility and enhanced local competitiveness.
For now, M&A is not driving widespread job insecurity, but when large-scale integrations occur the disruption for employees is unavoidable.
Tax hikes: the big squeeze
While AI and M&A cause employee anxiety, it is tax policy that threatens job security most directly.
The UK industry has been vocal about higher taxes driving players to the black market. Yet in practical terms, when operators seek to recoup lost EBITDA, they rarely sacrifice marketing spend or they will immediately stall growth. Instead, they turn to operational efficiencies, which normally means headcount reduction.
This is not just a UK issue. Several US states have raised taxes and European politicians are eyeing similar measures. Meanwhile, the US market is slowing, with no major new sports betting or iGaming states coming online. Operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM are shifting focus from market expansion to focus on EBITDA margin. That inevitably means less hiring and more scrutiny on costs.
In the UK, some back-of-the-envelope calculations – supported by ChatGPT – suggest that the top three listed UK groups – Flutter, Entain and Evoke – will be impacted between 2% and 5% on their group EBITDA and much higher on their UK EBITDA if the sports betting tax is aligned with gaming tax. And the rumour mill suggests there might be an increase in gaming tax on top of this.
For large scale public companies even low single-digit impacts are significant. To offset them, companies will tighten costs. Ironically, tax hikes could accelerate AI adoption. Companies under margin pressure will be forced to do more with less. For staff, this means embracing AI tools is not optional; it is survival.
Overall, the outlook is not one of mass collapse, but employers must balance resilience with reinvention to create smarter, more adaptable organisations.
That tension – between fear and opportunity – will define the workforce realities of 2026 and beyond. And it is exactly what we’ll be debating on stage at the SBC Summit.
