Agency vs in-house: what does it actually cost?

Building an in-house talent acquisition function is expensive long before the first hire lands. Recruiter salaries, HR overhead, ATS licences, job-board credits, LinkedIn Recruiter seats, assessment tools and the management time that goes into running all of it.

A staffing agency or employment agency working on contingency turns that fixed cost into a single, predictable success fee paid only when a candidate signs.

For most small and mid-sized iGaming operators and customer support teams, going through a placement agency is faster, cheaper per hire and considerably lower risk than building the function internally.

The break-even point for an in-house team usually sits somewhere north of 20 hires a year per recruiter. Below that, agency fees win on pure economics, before you even count the time saved.