One of the anchors of IGT’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives is its Community Ambassador program. As a network of global employees who schedule local community events on behalf of the multinational London-based gambling company, it would have been understandable if the company cut back on the initiative in 2020 due to concerns about the coronavirus.
Instead, IGT prioritized the program, with community ambassadors working virtually to sustain community support and prioritize funding requests that align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“Ambassadors contacted their community partners to implement contact-free opportunities to spread awareness of their organizations, including events with food banks, healthcare organizations and social service agencies,” says IGT Vice President of Global Communications, Trade Shows, and CSR Phil O’Shaughnessy. “Other virtual volunteering events included decorating cards to send to the sick and elderly, making care packages for the homeless, lending professional expertise and translation services for nonprofits and mentoring students.”
IGT Vice President of Global Communications, Trade Shows, and CSR Phil O’Shaughnessy
IGT’s recently released ESG Sustainability Report stresses the company’s commitment to sound environmental, social and governance principles. The report cites improvement in IGTs ESG ratings, with high marks earned from agencies including EcoVadis, Financial Times Stock Exchange, Morgan Stanley Capital Investment, and Sustainalytics.
IGT also was one of 325 global companies in 50 industries selected for the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, in 2020. The index tracks performances of public companies committed to disclosing efforts to support gender equality through policy development, representation and transparency.
“Last year, we doubled the number of women reporting to the CEO and increased the number of females on our Board of Directors,” O’Shaughnessy says. “IGT also has six chapters globally of its Women’s Inclusion Network – our WIN with IGT diversity and inclusion group. The newest chapter launched in San Francisco on International Women’s Day 2020.”
Other diversity and inclusion programs include Advancing Cultural Education at IGT to develop people of African descent, and Regional Diversity and Inclusion councils that promote diversity and inclusion strategies globally while reflecting local needs and cultures.
O’Shaughnessy says one of the byproducts of the pandemic was an increased emphasis on responsible gaming. Because cashless gaming has become an industry buzzword in the past 18 months due to an explosion of contactless/touchless payment systems, there are concerns problem gambling may increase.
IGT’s responsible gaming systems technology serves two purposes: player protection and regulatory compliance.
“The same philosophy stands for responsible gaming solutions in cashless technologies,” O’Shaughnessy says. “Our experienced cashless payments service team also supports U.S. customers in monitoring and reporting various types of fraud including identity theft, payment fraud and friendly fraud, using tools to detect suspicious activity. Player identification and support is also embedded into this function.”
O’Shaughnessy admits that because IGT is a supplier, some ESG ratings are hard to quantify. The company sometimes works with its customers to “complement their best practices in sustainable procurement so we can so we can help them improve their ESG ratings,” he says.
Going forward, IGT plans to focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to advance its ESG initiatives, with nine areas of focus: no poverty; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; and climate action.
“By committing to these SDGs and voluntarily disclosing information through our annual Sustainability Report, we are leveraging long-standing results of our corporate social responsibility strategy to respect the planet, strengthen our reputation and enhance customer confidence,” O’Shaughnessy says.
