Gaming solutions giant International Game Technology’s (IGT) latest sustainability report claims the business generated $4.84bn in ‘economic value’ through its products and services last year.
This metric looks to quantify the economic activity created through the supplier’s solutions. The value of the economic activity created directly by IGT, was down 32.6% year-on-year at $4.84bn, while the economic value to parties other than IGT came to $4.63bn, down 0.9%.
The supplier said that $2.80bn of this value was to suppliers, up 0.2%. and $1.15bn of this value was to its employees, down 1.5%, while $264.9m was to governments, down 3.3%.
IGT chief executive Marco Sala explained that its ability to create this level of economic benefit for stakeholders was down to the business’ product range.
“Our promise to our customers is to deliver unrivalled gaming experiences that engage players and drive growth,” he said. “Our financial value stems from the quality, diligence and discipline we deliver to our stakeholders.”
The report also provided updates on a number of other key corporate social responsibility metrics.
Looking at gender diversity, 68.8% of IGT’s employees were male and 31.2% female, with the gap only increasing with more senior positions. Among IGT’s 651 senior management employees, 24.4% were women. Both of these gaps were in line with the gender differences at the supplier in 2018.
Of IGT’s 1,328 new hires in 2019, 64.1% were male.
The business said it administered more than 87,000 hours of training to its employees, averaging 7.36 hours per person. Middle management employees received the most training, at an average of 16.37 hours.
In terms of its impact upon the environment, IGT’s adjusted waste also declined by 9.2% to 1,603 tons, while its adjusted energy usage was down 2.1% at 855,624 Gigajoules.
In addition, the supplier hailed recent milestones in player protection, such as receiving responsible gambling certification from the World Lottery Association (WLA) and the Global Gambling Guidance Group (G4) for both its land-based and digital operations.
These, Sala noted represent “the world’s most demanding frameworks” for assessing responsible gambling processes and practices.
“Player protection remains a joint responsibility between IGT and our customers,” Sala said. “We fulfill our part by providing increasingly effective global solutions that meet, and often exceed, requirements and recommendations in all the jurisdictions we serve.”
IGT said that collaboration was a major reason for these responsible gambling successes.
“The entire RG management process can be described in the way IGT is adopting a collaborative approach, is committed to providing adequate training programs to involved parties, and is promoting correct behaviors through efficient communication plans, thus leading to effective initiatives,” the supplier explained. “Externally, IGT works with RG experts and advisors to ensure that products, features, and policies are in line with current best practices.
“In this type of setting, IGT can learn about new approaches and research, while discovering new ways to provide support to other players in the industry.”
It added that a robust series of internal reviews helped it ensure all of its processes and products were in line with best responsible gambling practices.
The business also noted that the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic forced it to undertake a “disciplined cost management approach focused on structural changes to drive permanent savings”.
This included furloughing some staff, as well as pay reductions for senior leadership. In terms of action it took to support its staff during the pandemic, IGT said it increased its cleaning staff numbers and launched an information portal for employees with regular updates.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the world into turmoil, and from the beginning, IGT has continued to make the health and safety of all employees our highest priority,” Sala said. “While shelter-in-place edicts were issued throughout the world, our business has continued and customer needs are being met.
“We have adapted by undertaking an unprecedented reorganization of every aspect of daily work.”