Diversity and inclusion has become a core focus of many betting operators ESG and CSR policies, and Lottoland’s Christina Giuffré believes this can be beneficial in a number of ways.

Sharing her views at West London’s Stamford Bridge stadium with SBC Senior Media Executive Erin Gallagher at Betting on Sport Europe (BOSE) last month, Giuffré – who serves as Lottoland’s Head of Product and Diversity – argued that diversity has a strong impact on customer engagement.

“It’s critical for a few reasons, but for customer engagement, diversity and inclusion inspires engagement,” she explained. “You can think of different ways to connect with your audience, and I think also we’ve got new generations coming through – Gen X, Millennials  – who are very socially responsible and are more conscious of the environment.

“The more that you can do to engage with those audiences and connect with diversity and make sure that you’ve got a different mix of people, they see themselves in those people and I think that’s really important.”

This morning, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) released its report into 2021 CSR initiatives across the British gaming space, with one section focusing on how companies have been implementing D&I policies. 

For Giuffré, focusing on quotas is the wrong approach for companies to take when looking to diversify their workforce, with women and employees from minority backgrounds hired simply for the purpose of ‘ticking a box’.

“It’s really important that we make sure it’s successful, that more people are on that group being interviewed for the opportunity for that role. The second thing that is important is awareness, that we have these conversations about diversity and inclusion the more we can change the industry.”