iGaming Talent Pulse — Week 26: Digitain appoints a CCO and announces a new office, Novig hires a CRO from Kalshi, and Entain reshuffles its board again

A weekly read on hiring, licenses, and executive moves shaping the iGaming labor market — and what each signal means for talent leaders.

💜 by the IDN Recruitment team

Six signals this week, and the pattern is consistent: capital and headcount are flowing into two functions — commercial expansion in regulated European markets, and the infrastructure roles (compliance, legal, payments, backend engineering) that make that expansion possible. Two senior appointments at Digitain and Novig, a UK boardroom reshuffle at Entain, and three concrete hiring signals from Belgrade and Limassol tell one story: the operators still building teams right now are the ones planning growth into Q3 and Q4.

Here are the signals worth acting on this week.

1. Digitain names Dario Jurcic as CCO for Europe & Africa — a Central European office is coming

Digitain appointed former Sportradar SVP Dario Jurcic as Chief Commercial Officer for Europe and Africa, and announced plans to open a new office in Central Europe (OGQ News; AffPapa).

Why it matters for hiring teams: A CCO-level appointment with a stated regional office launch is one of the strongest possible hiring signals. Expect fast build-out across sales, BD, partnerships, account management, and pre-sales — with additional leadership hires for regulated-market coverage (UK, Malta, Romania). The Central Europe office in particular will likely need country lead, compliance, and platform-integration hires within 60–90 days. Sourcing from Sportradar, Kambi, and other B2B data/betting infrastructure players is the shortest path to matched profiles.

2. Novig hires ex-Kalshi CRO Elie Mishory to lead regulatory and legal — prediction markets scale

US regulated-prediction-market operator Novig appointed Elie Mishory as Chief Regulatory and Legal Affairs Officer. Mishory joins from Kalshi, where he held the same function (5star.media).

Why it matters: A CRO-level appointment at this stage of the prediction-market cycle signals real preparation for federally-regulated expansion. Expect demand to rise across Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel, Head of Compliance, and policy roles in the “sports betting meets event contracts” segment. This is one of the fastest-growing adjacent segments to iGaming, and the candidate pool overlaps meaningfully with regulated sportsbook and CFTC-adjacent fintech. If you’re recruiting in US compliance and legal, get in front of Kalshi, PredictIt, Sporttrade, and Polymarket alumni now.

3. Entain reshuffles the board again — Amanda Brown exits, committees get restructured

Entain announced further boardroom changes: Amanda Brown steps down from the board, and updates to the Remuneration and People & Governance committees take effect June 30 (5star.media).

Why it matters: This is the third week in a row Entain has restructured leadership — CEO change, non-executive director additions, committee reshuffles, and now this. Individually each move is a soft signal. Together they form a strong one: Entain’s governance and compensation structure is being materially redesigned, and that always cascades into HR, comp & benefits, and internal audit hiring within 1–2 quarters. Keep monitoring senior Entain movements — talent flowing out of the current reshuffle is going to hit the market in Q3.

4. IGT opens Backend Engineer role in Belgrade — Balkan engineering hub confirmed

IGT posted a Backend Engineer (iGaming) role in Belgrade on June 25 (IGT Careers).

Why it matters: A single job posting isn’t dramatic on its own, but it confirms that IGT is actively building out backend engineering capacity in the Balkans post-Everi merger — not consolidating it away. For anyone recruiting platform engineering, this validates Belgrade as one of the strongest cost-effective iGaming engineering hubs in Europe, alongside Sofia and Bucharest. Sourcing Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian backend candidates with iGaming domain experience is a productive lane right now, and offering shortlists to competitor B2B vendors targeting the region will land.

5. Cyprus operator opens Head of Payments role — platform ecosystem play

A Limassol-based international iGaming operator group posted a senior Head of Payments role on June 25, explicitly framing the search around expansion into regulated and offshore markets and building a proprietary platform ecosystem (CyprusWork).

Why it matters: Head of Payments hires almost always signal a broader platform ambition — building payment orchestration in-house rather than depending on third-party PSPs. Adjacent hiring typically follows: PSP relationship managers, treasury operations, acquiring specialists, and payments compliance. The best candidate pool for this role sits inside PSPs (Nuvei, Trustly, Paysafe, Praxis Tech) and top-tier operators with mature payment stacks. Limassol continues to reinforce its position as the payments hub of iGaming.

6. Digitain expansion — commercial pipeline is the shortlist opportunity of the week

Both AffPapa and OGQ News independently confirmed Digitain’s regional expansion, framing the Central European office and the Jurcic hire as part of a broader commercial scaling push in regulated jurisdictions (AffPapa; OGQ News).

Why it matters: The right time to build a Digitain-specific sourcing plan is now, before the office locations become public. Focus areas: commercial (Sales Directors, BD Leads, Account Directors for UK/Malta/RO/CE), product and platform (integration engineers, product managers with sportsbook expertise), and compliance (regulated-market compliance leads with MGA and UKGC experience). This is the “wave” moment — operators that pre-position candidates typically win the retainer conversation once formal reqs open.

The common thread

Six signals, one arc: capital and headcount are consolidating around regulated European expansion and the infrastructure that makes it possible. Digitain and Novig are hiring at the top of the funnel (commercial and regulatory leaders); IGT and the Limassol operator are hiring in the middle (engineering and payments); Entain is still restructuring at the board level. The connective tissue is regulated growth — every meaningful hire this week is tied to it.

The teams that win Q3 are the ones already mapping candidates against this specific growth vector. If any of these markets sit on your hiring roadmap, our team already tracks candidate availability and compensation benchmarks across regulated European hubs. We’re happy to share what we’re seeing for your specific market.

IDN Recruitment is a boutique talent partner for tech, data and AI, fintech, and iGaming companies scaling across Europe and the US. The Talent Pulse runs every Monday.