Tag: Corporate Social Responsibility

Casino industry companies are actively taking steps to become more ethical and sustainable, including saving energy, promoting responsible gaming practices and caring for their employees.

This study used content analysis to explore how US casinos report and communicate about CSR issues. Six CSR dimensions could be identified: customers, employees, shareholders, environment and community.

Responsible Gaming

Though casinos are frequently perceived as harmful to society, they still make efforts to better their community. An example would be responsible gaming initiatives which seek to help individuals avoid gambling addictions and their related social costs. Unfortunately, however, most of these initiatives go unnoticed by members of society due to casinos failing to effectively communicate them to their audiences.

This study sought to investigate how casino corporations report on their CSR activities in both the US and Macau. Their authors studied standalone CSR reports published by five major casino companies and their findings showed that most reported themes align with widely adopted contemporary frameworks such as stakeholder theory and materiality.

Community involvement was the most prevalent theme, encompassing charitable and volunteer activities. Casino companies desire to foster positive relations between themselves and their neighbors and communities; however, some casinos trepidatious of investing in it due to it affecting economic profits.

Community Relations

Casino companies strive to build strong community relations by supporting local charities and events, hosting cultural events, and participating in educational programs. Such efforts help foster customer loyalty while simultaneously building goodwill. Casino companies should use caution when engaging in community relations activities as this may exploit vulnerable populations or promote excessive gambling; energy usage must also be carefully managed with efficient technologies and practices implemented so as to reduce their ecological impact footprint.

Casino companies can enhance their reputation further by creating problem gambling support systems for both employees and customers/players, which may include providing information about external resources for assistance and self-limit access programs which help gamblers stay within their limits when gambling habits become problematic.

Environmental Concerns

Casinos are energy-intensive businesses that rely heavily on energy inputs for operations. Therefore, environmental sustainability should be prioritized as an issue by casino companies; water conservation initiatives, waste management practices and energy efficiency measures may all be implemented as measures towards environmental responsibility. Responsible advertising must also be encouraged so as to avoid exploiting vulnerable groups or excessive gambling promotion.

Casino companies should focus on several CSR issues related to employee remuneration and bonuses; training programs for problem gamblers and their relatives; as well as creating a safe working environment. Such efforts can increase competitiveness while attracing and retaining a quality workforce.

Research into CSR in controversial industries is widespread. Du and Vieira contend that controversial firms can improve their image by addressing any inherent negative externalities inherent to their core business. This research adds to this theory by investigating how casino companies communicate their responsible gaming initiatives; specifically whether firm size and being listed are related to an increased willingness of casino companies to issue standalone CSR reports.

Employee Relations

Casino companies must not only encourage responsible gaming but also ensure that employees are treated fairly, including providing safe working environments with adequate wages and benefits as well as training on responsible gaming. Lastly, casino companies should offer problem gambling support systems for both employees and customers/players alike.

Though previous research has advocated for casino industry to implement CSR initiatives, little concrete evidence exists as to their effects. This study investigates the association between employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR), commitment, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A meta-regression analysis demonstrated that initiatives with a focus on people were significantly more closely associated with employee attitudes and citizenship behaviors than initiatives focused on environment or profits, with gender moderated relationships between CSR perceptions and organizational citizenship behaviors; with women reporting greater levels of commitment than men. This finding suggests a holistic and integrated approach is necessary in casino industry CSR initiatives.