Nine To Five

About Nine To Five

CEO Levin, who is set to transition to a chair role, commented on the shift, saying that he was very confident that Konstakis has what it takes to be CEO and drive OpenBet to new heights.

He [Konstakis] knows our business, our customers and our technology inside out, and has played a central role in shaping our priorities and how we execute against them. Furthermore, Nikos has been a true confidante and partner in the business since coming on board over eight years ago.

Levin added that he is looking forward to supporting the company and the wider team from his new chair role.

What is Nine To Five?

The shift to AI is also changing how Grenstad thinks about recruitment. A team working on the player journey, for example, needs people who understand casinos, iGaming and what a strong player experience should look like.

“I would not necessarily prioritise senior Java or front-end specialists in the same way as before,” Grenstad explains. “Technical skills remain important, particularly for people who can assess architecture and ensure systems remain reliable, but domain knowledge is becoming increasingly valuable. I’d rather take someone who’s good in the domain but doesn’t know any Java.”

That raises a question about how future developers will enter the industry. If Cubeia no longer needs front-end traditional junior Java developers in the same way, the traditional path from junior programmer to senior engineer becomes less clear.

How to play Nine To Five

Macquarie’s Beynon agrees with that sentiment, pointing to the relative stability of gaming companies through tough economic stretches such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Bankruptcies in the sector have been low relative to the broader market, he notes, and both land-based and digital companies have reason for optimism moving forward.

“It’s certainly not lost on us that this sector has underperformed for several years in a row just because it doesn’t have either the growth of say, tech companies, or the perceived free cash flow-insulated businesses, which we believe it does…We’ve thought there’s been value in the sector for a few years, particularly this year,” he told iGB.

Jess has covered the global gaming industry since 2022. A native of Reno, Nevada, he’d like to note that it’s Ne-va-da, not Ne-VAH-da.