Gaming expert Micky Swindale says headlines in tabloids, including the Guardian, about scantily clad women at the gambling industry’s flagship conference, should not detract from her battle for gender diversity.

KPMG’s Micky was at the ICE event in London’s Docklands along with representatives of the government and a large delegation from the island’s eGaming sector.

Several national newspapers homed in on criticism by UK Gambling Commission chief executive Sarah Harrison over the use of scantily clad promotional hostesses.

But Micky, the island’s current business person of the year, said the issue of gender diversity in the industry was also touched upon by Miss Harrison in her address at the World Regulatory Briefing ahead of the ICE 2018 event at the Excel venue last week.

Micky, who is an advisory director in KPMG’s gaming team, said Miss Harrison made an important message of hoping for a 50/50 split between men and women at senior levels by 2020.

‘[But] I would be very surprised if that could be achieved - it would take a hell of a lot of a sea change [for that to be achieved by 2020].’

Micky, who has spoken on gender diversity at high-powered conferences in London, said there was a genuine issue of getting more women working in the tech industry.

eGaming is an important part of the island’s economy with some of the biggest global names operating here including PokerStars and software giant Microgaming.

On the eve of the ICEevent PokerStars received the award for online poker operatorof the year at the Global Gaming Awards in London.

Micky said the issue of gender diversity in gaming had really gained momentum after an Isle of Man Newspapers’ Business News round table discussion involving high-powered island-based women working in gaming, in 2016.

She agreed there were a ‘lot of promotional girls wearing very little’ at ICE and she could understand some women delgates being shocked if it was their visit to the show.

But she hoped this would not detract from ‘the wider debate on gender diversity and getting more women working in senior positions in the gaming industry.’

Island software giant Microgaming was a popular draw for many of the 30,000 attendees who had travelled from around the world for the event. The Daily Mail drew attention to a show featuring a contortionist publicising the new Playboy Gold game devised by Microgaming, previously reported by Business News. Micky said she was impressed by the Microgaming show and praised the performer’s exploits in a gold bodysuit. She said it was an ‘unbelievable performance.’

She was not so impressed by pole dancers on other company’s stands wearing very little, commenting, tongue in cheek: ‘They were poles apart’.