Mental health in the iGaming industry

Leo Judkins, Founder of HabitRewire, talks to Gambling Insider about mental health struggles in the iGaming industry and how HabitRewire hopes to make a difference

experienced the cocktail that we have in gaming, which is, very strong commercial pressures combined with fast regulatory changes. Plus, what happens especially in communities like this in Gibraltar and in Malta, where there are a lot of expats and very little social support around, people compromise on their own well-being. That certainly happened to me. There’s a very small pool of talent in iGaming, and what happens as a result of that is people that perform well in those roles obviously get promoted, but they don’t necessarily have the skill sets yet to do that job successfully yet. As a result, they can’t keep up. You have those commercial pressures combined with, regulatory changes, ongoing sporting events, people then tend to drink too much, not take care of themselves and really lose it. That was the same for me. I think that’s really one of the big things that makes iGaming unique.

are you actually doing as an employer? Are you asking once or are you asking four times when you see somebody?

What is HabitRewire?

HabitRewire is a health and wellbeing platform built specifically for the iGaming industry. The act of habit rewiring is about making sure we help people change bad habits that they currently have. The brand has three elements, one-on-one coaching, workshops and the app. I’m against workshops because very often people go in and it almost becomes a tick-box exercise. They deliver some additional knowledge around nutrition or activity and then the people that actually need it never implement it. So, we deliver a workshop first and then provide people with accountability afterwards to help them implement.

How is the platform shaped to cater specifically for the iGaming industry?

I’ve been in the gaming industry for 10 years. I was a director at BetVictor and I struggled with my mental health. With my physical wellbeing. I lost 35kg while in that directorship and I directly

The other areas I intimately understand: I’ve walked that life. It is so much easier and so much more powerful and effective to coach people that are just a few steps behind you. I resigned in the middle of Covid-19 and now help people that are in the same position as me. I became certified as a nutritionist, sleep coach and stress management specialist. The thing that frustrates me about mental health, especially in the corporate world, it’s all tick-box exercises. It’s all lip service: 'It’s okay to talk. It’s okay to not be okay.' Yes, of course, it’s okay, but what

I know several gaming firms here where people just book what they’re allowed to book regarding mental health days, but then they don’t show up to work for two weeks and HR doesn’t follow up. But they have all these fancy platforms and wellbeing things in the background; they act like it’s just window dressing. That’s what I’ve only started realising now that I’m here and this is what I’m doing now. That’s really what I want to change in iGaming, because I think very often people are treated as kind of bums on seats. Also, I’ve come from a commercial background and I understand there needs to be bottom-line impact on anything that you invest into. With my background in just doing performance-based marketing and understanding what uplift is, it’s quite easy for me. So that’s how we set up the platform as well. Revaluation of mental health approaches in the workplace is probably needed in other industries as well. But I think the iGaming is probably the area where it needs it the most.

HabitRewire recently signed a partnership with Lottoland. What happens now and how big is this partnership for the company?

Yes, HabitRewire announced its first major collaboration, forming a partnership with Lottoland. They have 400 employees. We expect a significant amount of those people to use the platform straight away. We have a two-week period which we’re in now, where we’re evaluating the business. We’re running a survey to see where they need the help the most around. Physical health, mental well-being, workplace performance. We are scoring them around nutrition activity, sleep, stress management, time management and productivity. We hope that Lottoland is the first of many companies we get to work with and help.