A new study from the American Gaming Association (AGA) provides an in-depth examination of diversity in the gaming sector workforce. The findings show that gaming is more diverse than national and hospitality industry benchmarks and boasts a diverse executive pipeline, while identifying opportunities on gender representation.
The research reveals tangible results of the industry’s broad reach and commitment to representing local communities:
1) More than 6 in 10 (61%) of gaming industry employees are minorities, compared to 52% of the broader hospitality industry and 42% of the total U.S. workforce.
2) A 23% of gaming employees is Hispanic and 19% is Black, both higher indexes than the national workforce and in line with the hospitality industry.
3) Asian employees are over-represented in gaming at 14%, about twice the national workforce.
4) A 60% of operator employees is minorities, up nearly 20% from 2011 and higher than the hospitality sector and national workforces overall. In fact, 19% of workers are Black today compared with 12% in 2011.
5) A 45% of gaming manufacturer’s employees is minorities, compared to 38% of the broader electronic manufacturing workforce.
A total of 26 AGA member organizations participated in the study, including companies from the manufacturer (8) and the commercial and tribal operator (18) segments of the gaming industry. Through the EEO-01 form, participants provided gender, race/ethnicity and job classification data for their workforces. Participants submitted data to a third-party accounting firm which calculated the various diversity metrics and safeguarded confidentiality. The data submitted has been reviewed for consistency across participants.
PROFESSIONAL LEVELS
Importantly, across job levels, gaming’s leadership pipeline is significantly more diverse than national averages at the first/mid-level manager and professional levels: 45% of first/mid-level managers is minorities, while 43% of professionals is minorities, both 10 to 12 points above national and hospitality benchmarks.
Gender diversity presents an opportunity for the industry. Gaming’s workforce is 48% female, in line with the national workforce, but representation drops off at more senior level job classifications.
The benchmarking report comes a year after the AGA identified core pillars of ESG in gaming: advancing sustainability, strengthening DEI, investing in communities and leading responsibly.
Bill Miller, President and CEO, AGA, stressed: “Consumers, policymakers and investors are raising their expectations for all businesses on how they contribute to society beyond the bottom line. Encompassing data from across commercial, tribal and manufacturing gaming verticals, the survey both highlights our industry’s leadership on diversity while presenting areas for continued progress. As today’s report shows, our industry has made impactful strides toward becoming more diverse, but there is more work to do. The AGA will use this research to engage our membership on how we can collectively advance DEI in gaming in the months and years to come.”
GAMBLERS AND BETTORS, AN INCREASINGLY DIVERSE PROFILE
According to different surveys, 51% of Hispanics/Latinos said they are aware of sports betting, and 61% affirmed that they bet or were interested on it. The Hispanic/Latino group (49%) looked upon sports betting favorably, higher than any other segment. Besides, 23% of Hispanics consider themselves frequent bettors, leading all groups in that self-recognition.
The profile of the sports betting player is also moving away from the prototype: more and more Hispanics and more women are part of it. In fact, 4.6+ million U.S. women joined sports betting apps in 2021, with female user rates up 115% compared to 2020.
The Hispanic community numbers 62+ million in the U.S. and more than 100,000 Hispanics are estimated to be active bettors, according to a calculation by the Leadstar Media team in connection with miscasasdeapuestas.com/us, after analyzing the market in depth.
This niche population is woefully underserved, as until now there were no Spanish-language sports and entertainment websites. That is why Leadstar Media created https://miscasasdeapuestas.com/us.
“After seeing a high percentage of users accessing our other Spanish-language platforms from the United States, we felt it was necessary to expand our product with a new website with content tailored for Hispanic-American bettors. The U.S. has been the talk of the industry lately, and we have focused efforts there as well,” commented Jacob Ljunggren, Director of Operations at Leadstar Media.