Developer rejected due to casino side job. He didn't mention it in his CV or social media
He once worked as a croupier.
«I checked the internal site for his application’s status, and there was a rejection: 'Rejected: worked in a casino'»
Anton* informed us that in 2024, a major game developer that split its business into global and Russian-Belarusian divisions after February 24, 2022, rejected his friend’s application «because he had previously worked as a croupier in a casino in Belarus.»
«This happened exactly a year ago in Lithuania. I submitted a referral for my friend—he’s a Python developer. Literally the next day, I checked the internal site to see his status, and there was a rejection: 'Rejected: worked in a casino'—followed by the casino’s name.»
I immediately asked him if this was true. He confirmed that while in Belarus, he had worked as a croupier when he couldn’t find an IT job. This position wasn’t listed on his resume, and as far as I know, no one had questioned him about it. It’s as if they must have run a background check somewhere.
Interestingly, later in Lithuania, he even found a part-time job as a croupier—and now he works as a programmer at a well-known global company in Vilnius.
«No one ever said the reason was my casino work. But they did»
We contacted Evgeny*, who confirmed that he had indeed worked at a casino in Minsk for 9 years until 2020. Afterward, a Lithuanian IT company hired him as a junior developer—first remotely, then relocated him to Vilnius.
«Then the crisis hit—and in early 2024, they started pressuring me to resign voluntarily, otherwise they threatened to fire me 'with cause' (yes, Lithuania has that too).
A year before this, I had already started looking for other jobs: I applied to many places, including the company where Anton worked. Most often I received no response or immediate rejections, though I did go through some HR screenings but never reached technical interviews.»
After Anton recommended Evgeny to his employer through the referral program, the developer claims this was the first time he received a written rejection. (Evgeny couldn’t find his correspondence with the HR manager; he believes he might have deleted it.—Ed.)
«During my job search, I received many rejections, but no one ever said the reason was my casino work. But they did. And yes, I didn’t list this workplace on my resume.»
We asked Evgeny where else he might have mentioned this fact from his biography. «Nowhere,» the young man insists: not on LinkedIn or any other social media.
Ironically, the games made by the company that rejected the developer «have loot boxes and roulettes"—and if the young man had experience in iGaming instead, the outcome might have been different, suggests our first interviewee, Anton.
Does casino work cause professional deformation?
Most HR professionals who worked at the company or had collaborated with it either ignored our inquiry or limited their response to «this is nonsense» and «this definitely can’t happen.»
Several well-known HR specialists not connected to the company also preferred not to comment on the situation.
One person suggested this was «not a policy but the initiative of an individual employee"—perhaps an HR person who considered casino work taboo at their previous workplace and «transferred these attitudes to the new company. Possibly from Belarus.»
Victoria*, an HRD with 17 years of experience, noted that in her practice she had encountered «employers' biased attitudes toward candidates from sectors like offline casinos and iGaming.» Among other more understandable disqualifying factors: relatives in prison, administrative fines, and working for competitors (though the latter could sometimes be a plus).
We asked Victoria why candidates from casinos might be prohibited. She replied that, likely, «in the founders' opinion, casinos are an unethical business.»
«There’s an opinion that the communication and behavior scripts taught to casino employees exclude complete honesty. As a result, they lose this trait in real life—a form of professional deformation. But what’s also important: seeing someone make 'easy money' in the gambling hall every day, some casino employees start valuing only money in life and would hardly be able to share the values of other companies.»
We spoke with another HR Director—Alexander*—who said that he had «seen a huge number of biases and prejudices from owners and hiring managers. Against this background, working in a casino is simply an unfortunate misunderstanding.»
What’s your take?
*Names have been changed at the speakers' request.
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