With a career spanning both casino operations and recruitment, Paul Sculpher has become a trusted voice in the sector. At GRS Recruitment, he helps connect talent with opportunities across Europe, offering a unique view of the challenges and opportunities in staffing.

Looking ahead, he highlights the rapid growth of Live Studio operations, which are creating thousands of new roles from entry-level presenters to technical and supervisory positions. Live Studio are live-streamed casino games with real dealers, blending digital access with authentic casino experience.

Based on your experience in both casino operations and recruitment, what gaming industry roles do you see as most in demand for 2026?

“It might be just because we at GRS are particularly busy with them, but it’s all about Live Studio right now.  There is some incredible growth in this sector of the business, and it’s bringing thousands of people into the industry, from entry level Game Presenters to all the supervisory and technical roles that are required to support them.”

From a European perspective, which regions are currently showing the strongest activity in hiring within the gaming sector?

“I guess there are 2 primary reasons for strong hiring, high turnover and genuine growth.  With geographical flexibility being high across the region, it’s ever easier for people at staff level to relocate and find their perfect role, so if you’re not for example paying a market rate, you’re going to find your people leaking away for a better deal, and that stands up for a number of countries.  Management style also plays a part – the 1970’s approach of “you work for me, you’ll do what I say and you won’t complain” won’t cut it any more, and that’s another driver for people to go somewhere more progressive. Those regions that haven’t updated their attitude to their team members are going to struggle.”

He also points to regional hiring pressures, driven by turnover, management styles, and upcoming projects such as the Wynn resort opening in 2027.

“From the growth point of view, there are always projects around, but of course the Wynn resort opening in 2027 is the one on everyone’s minds.  With many thousands of employees, many of whom will be from other casino operations, there’s going to need to be a lot of backfilling going on in the latter part of 2026 and early 2027.  That might have the effect of driving up wages as operators scramble to fill their rosters from a depleted pool of experienced people.”

How has the shift toward integrated resorts and omnichannel platforms influenced the type of talent that operators are looking for?

“From the European point of view, the shift towards integrated resorts hasn’t really moved the needle too much – depending on what you consider qualifies as an ICR, we don’t have a ton of them.  The omnichannel shift has certainly changed the game.   Operators that do a good job of integrating their offline and online operations – getting the best of both rather than having 2 factions fighting each other for the same customers – will be a distance ahead.  With that in mind, emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate effectively are more important than ever, and that matters at all levels of a true omnichannel business.”

In your view, what skills or qualities will be most critical for candidates to succeed in the gaming industry over the next few years?

“That’s a tricky one.  It feels to me that while the hard skills will evolve as the market dictates – and there’ll no doubt be innovation that dictates that some new skillsets will be in demand – the soft skills are more important than ever. There are plenty of people who will argue that the younger generation lack resilience – if that’s true, it’s going to be a major challenge for them.  On the other hand, the emotional intelligence and comms skills mentioned above will only get more important.  The best career advice I ever heard was “the best ability you can have is to be easy to work with” and that’s always going to be true.”

For Sculpher, the future of recruitment will rely not only on evolving technical skills but also on soft skills like emotional intelligence and communication, which are increasingly critical in an omnichannel gaming environment.