Gambling Insider had the chance to speak with LiveScore’s Sam Talbot, Kate Parker and Gabrielle Hone about creating positive workplaces for women in the gambling sector, the importance of a diverse team and creating connectivity with a global team.
LiveScore Group is a business ecosystem consisting of LiveScore, LiveScore Bet and Virgin Bet. Coming onto the market in 1998, LiveScore has become a prominent sports media brand in the UK and around the world, with 50 million monthly actives across its three brands.
Alongside its products, the company has carved a unique place in the market for itself by championing responsibility, diversity, inclusivity and a set of values that includes embracing change, encouraged not only on the consumer side of the business but internally as well.
The company is a global one, with offices not only in the UK and Malta, but also in Austria, Nigeria and Ireland. We had the opportunity to talk with some of LiveScore’s heads and chiefs at their London location, where we spoke about industry diversity, having a global team, and creating an inclusive space for women to engage in the gambling and betting industries.
With us were:
- Sam Talbot, Chief Product Officer
- Kate Parker, Head of Product Design & Research
- Gabrielle Hone, Head of Talent Acquisition
Do you believe that the gambling sector is encouraging for women and newcomers from a business perspective?
KP: As far as LiveScore Group is concerned, yes. Recently in the last year or so, we’ve done so much work to try and diversify our workforce, in terms of how we hire and what values or attributes we’re looking for. But then also, we’ve done a lot specifically within LiveScore Group around policies and how we can actually make it a better place for women to work a more open place for women to work.
We also have an employee resource group called Women in Sports and Gaming, and specifically our focus is about how can we empower women within our company but also within the industry.
GH: Through Women in Sports and Gaming, LiveScore Group has created an enhanced maternity package, which is highly competitive, and we have updated our pregnancy loss policy. We’ve updated our menopause policy, and we have a new updated fertility policy underway as well.
We’re actively making opportunities for females in work, and we can see the difference because if I look at the last three months of people hired into the organisation I can say that a minimum of 50% of those hires coming externally into business are women. And we were not in that position two years ago. So it’s working.
“Through Women in Sports and Gaming, LiveScore has created an enhanced maternity package, which is highly competitive, and we have updated our pregnancy loss policy”
Gabrielle Hone
Where do you think the gambling industry has room for improvement when it comes to creating an engaging work environment for women and those new to the industry?
ST: I think it still feels like this industry is relatively dominated by white males. If you go to a conference or you go to events, it’s probably more exaggerated, but a lot of people will come from the same sort of backgrounds.
Regardless of gender or race or anything else, everyone’s been in the industry so long, you sit on a panel and everyone introduces themselves – they say ‘I’ve been in the industry my entire career’, and everyone says that, and there’s very little diversity because of that fact.
We encourage looking outside of the industry and trying to get more people in from other geographical areas, political areas, and work backgrounds. And it pays massive dividends.
Like Kate, for example, has come in completely fresh to the industry and is one of the biggest superstars we’ve got. And it’s a testament to the fact that she’s got a different background, different understandings, beliefs and ways of working. I think that’s certainly a huge area within the industry, generally, where we need to improve – to look outside of our own industry.
GH: I don’t have the data to know about the industry as a whole, but my focus is on making LiveScore look like a reflection of the streets. So what we want within LiveScore is to see a reflection of everyone you would see naturally sitting on the tube and walking down the street. That’s where our efforts are.
So, LiveScore Group is global. You have offices in places like Malta. How do you go about bringing LiveScore Group’s inclusive ethos into a global space, and create that global connectivity?
GH: I think every country is going to have some level of difference in the way they work. However, the core ethos of what every office is doing is never going to change. We know in order to succeed, we need to be highly communicative, highly collaborative, and focus on the same goals.
We have objective key results within the organisation, and they are global. So, everyone in the company is heading for those same goals.
Everyone is on track to achieve those same goals. So we’re all working to the same finish line, and that’s our focus. The potential that a diverse global team can bring to the wider gambling market is not one to be underestimated. As the market shifts new forms of gambling become more prominent, and more territories such as Malta become key players in the global gambling economy, looking into where change is coming from and embracing it is key to a company’s success.
Ten years ago, iGaming was just a fraction of the industry it is today. Likewise, Malta was far lower down most people’s lists when they thought about industry hotspots. Where Las Vegas and poker tables once stood, we are now standing at the precipice of change.
To embrace change and diversity in the market is to embrace the future – and the future is just around the corner.
Ten years ago, iGaming was just a fraction of the industry it is today”
Gabrielle Hone