iGB L!VE 2026: The Conexus View on Talent, Convergence and What Comes Next
iGB L!VE 2026 has closed its doors at ExCeL London after two days that, for us, reinforced a single conviction: the future of iGaming and payments will be built by the same people, navigating the same forces, at the same time. As a group that spans both sectors, we left with a clear view of what the show signalled for talent and leadership. Here is the Conexus perspective.
Convergence is no longer coming. It is here.
The strongest theme of the show was how thoroughly iGaming and payments have intertwined. Player protection has become a payments-and-data discipline. Growth into new markets hinges on payments and compliance expertise. Crypto settlement bridges gaming, fintech and regulation. Time and again, a conversation that began in one sector ended in the other. For the businesses we serve, this convergence is now the backdrop to every talent decision.
Talent is the constraint on strategy
Across the M&A Summit, the AI sessions and the affiliate reinvention, one truth recurred: ambition is limited less by ideas than by the people available to deliver them. The scarce capabilities, senior compliance and player protection, payments and financial-crime expertise, AI-capable leadership, data fluency, are in demand across both sectors at once. The organisations pulling ahead are those treating talent strategy as inseparable from business strategy.
Leadership is being tested by M&A and AI
Consolidation and artificial intelligence dominated the strategic conversation, and both place the spotlight on leadership. M&A succeeds or fails on retention, integration and leadership capacity. AI rewards leaders who treat it as an organisational design challenge rather than a purchase. The common thread is the strength and adaptability of the leadership team.
Our brands saw it from both sides
What made the show valuable for us is that our specialist teams experienced it from complementary angles. Pentasia — marking its 25th year and launching its evolution from recruitment leader to talent intelligence and workforce infrastructure partner — heard the iGaming talent story directly from operators and suppliers. PaymentGenes Recruitment tracked the payments and fintech currents running beneath the agenda. Bringing those two views together is exactly the vantage point The Conexus Group exists to offer, and it left us more confident than ever in the value of spanning both worlds.
What comes next
Our advice to the leaders we work with is consistent with everything the show confirmed. Plan talent a market, a deal and a technology shift ahead, not behind. Define your workforce around capabilities that cross sector lines. And treat people decisions with the same rigour as commercial ones. The opportunity created by convergence is significant, and it will be captured by the organisations that get their talent and leadership right.
We are grateful to everyone who connected with our teams at ExCeL. If the themes of iGB L!VE 2026 map onto the questions on your desk for the rest of the year, we would welcome the conversation.