Women Marking Their Mark In The Online Casino World

The past year saw headlines dominated by news of women who were making their mark in the online casino industry.  There were significant new appointments, and there were women noteworthy for what they had managed to achieve in their existing businesses and roles.

These are just some of the women who made their mark in iGaming in 2020.

Appointed in January to the office of Chief Financial Officer by online casino software supplier GAN, Karen Flores has more than 20 years of experience in financial management and operations. Flores joined GAN from Alorica, where she provided her services as VP of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis.

Flores also previously served Maker Studios Inc., a company later sold to The Walt Disney Company, in her capacity of Senior Vice President of Finance. Stunts before that include similar positions held at Microsoft, Napster, and MySpace Music.

CEO at responsible gaming giant Gamstop, Fiona Palmer has worked hard – as well as succeeded – at driving the U.K.’s self-exclusion scheme forward to the point of the scheme becoming mandatory for all operators.

The scheme has been a safeguard a long time in the making, and certainly a project that saw Palmer invest every last bit of energy and effort she could possibly muster in ensuring successful and effective implementation.

Initially pushed back on the launch-pad from 2017 to April 2018 following heavy criticism after it was discovered to have contained certain loopholes allowing self-excluded gamblers to sneak their way back into online casino and betting arenas, the UKGC finally issued Gamstop with the necessary stamp of approval earlier this year.

Kindred’s Maris Bonello was instrumental in the setting up of the company’s Player Safety Early Detection System – a system Bonello says was implemented at a time when most operators had no responsible gambling manager or management system at all in place.

It hasn’t been an easy road for Bonello. Having entered the industry at a very young age, steadying her voice among men regarded experienced stalwarts was a challenge at first. But once she found her voice and her passion, she would ultimately go on to change the online casino company’s outlook on responsible gaming from that of alienating customers and business, to that of making a connection between customer protection and customer loyalty. Maris Bonello is today the Head of Responsible Gaming and Research at Kindred.

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