Sands China Ltd. has been undertaking new initiatives in support of responsible gaming as it continues to be one of the company’s most important strategic actions.
As Macau has grown and thrived over the last 20 years, it has remained essential for integrated resort operators to safeguard the wellbeing of Macao’s locals and visitors by promoting responsible gaming.
Sands China is proud of the dedicated efforts of its team members in helping to carry out the company’s corporate social responsibility in this area.
A total of 440 Sands China team members recently participated in a new responsible gaming training initiative, delivered by the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home Integrated Services Centre, the Youth Volunteers Association of Macao (AJVM), and the Young Men’s Christian Association of Macau (YMCA) in May and June.
Each full-day training session was attended by around 20 team members from Sands China’s Table Games department. Sessions were held between May 12 and June 12.
Attendees participated in three activities. The Macao Gaming Employees Home Integrated Services Centre offered a responsible gaming themed board game, while YMCA Macau provided financial management training. AJVM delivered training on gaming myths featuring a responsible gaming video and game.
Team members learned about house edge and experienced the disadvantages of gambling disorder in the Macao Gaming Employees Home Integrated Services Centre’s workshop. During AJVM’s training, team members learned about the symptoms of gambling disorder, the eight attitudes and behaviours of responsible gambling, and the functions of responsible gaming stations and kiosks, including how to assist guests in the preliminary application procedure of the self-exclusion programme. Team members also learned about the concepts of financial management, including personal financial risk assessment, savings, and investment in the YMCA workshop.
“Sands China Ltd. is very thankful for the chance to collaborate with these three local organisations to present responsible gaming training to our team members with new and more effective methods,” said Dr. Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd. “With social responsibility initiatives like this, we are able to more effectively promote responsible gaming to our team members and strengthen their responsible gaming knowledge.”
The recent training initiative marked the first time Sands China had invited the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home Integrated Services Centre, the Youth Volunteers Association of Macao, and YMCA Macau to assist in the company’s responsible gaming training.
The non-governmental associations have expressed their gratitude towards the integrated resort operator, appreciating the company’s continued commitment to the well-being of its guests and the local community.
With the goals of contributing to the continuous development of the Macao community, bearing corporate social responsibility in addressing social issues and developing an environment and a culture of responsible gaming in Macao, Sands China indeed recognizes the importance of responsible gaming to the local community. Through conducting new responsible gaming training initiatives, the company aims to continuously promote a strong quality of life and foster a positive environment.
Corporate Social Responsibility In Macau Gambling Industry History
This includes a proactive role for the state in re-regulating the gambling industry/products; instituting new forms of gaming machine product control/protection; and reinforcing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and host responsibility obligations on gambling providers – beyond self-regulatory codes. Conceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Recognition of the concept of CSR appears to be high among employees in Macao the gambling industry. 24 out of 29 interviewees recognized this term. For the interviewees, the term, corporate social responsibility suggested that a company has a responsibility to more than shareholders. Relatively low volumes of Corporate Social Disclosure (CSD) and Responsible Gambling (RG) disclosure in the international gambling industry, which can be viewed as a legitimising strategy. Second, in Macao’s gambling industry, it is argued that organisations in this industry tend to place a greater emphasis on positive social impacts, while.
“We would like to thank Sands China for inviting us to this training to further strengthen Sands China team members’ understanding of responsible gaming. Participants actively asked questions and interacted with the instructors,” said Austin Vong, President of the Youth Volunteers Association of Macau.
“We believe that this training has a positive effect,” adding that he hoped for more cooperation opportunities with Sands China, such as practical operation training and publicity for responsible gaming stations and educational activities.”
For Pak Kin Pong, Supervisor of the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home Integrated Services Centre, “The training has achieved a satisfactory outcome.” “Sands China team members were able to strengthen their understanding of the house advantage concept and understand the mentality of people with gambling disorder through playing games in the class. This empathy and responsible gaming knowledge is useful for team members to offer assistance to those suffering from gambling disorder,” said Pak.
“We hope that responsible gaming information and knowledge could be further extended to team members’ family, local community, and visitors of Macao,” the supervisor added.
Meanwhile, Grace Kuan, Secretary General of YMCA Macau remarked, “We are glad to be invited to co-organize financial management trainings for Sands China team members, because wealth management is highly related to responsible gaming concepts and behaviors.”
“By learning the concepts of financial management in the workshop, including personal financial risk assessment, savings, and investment, Sands China team members are able to better plan for their future,” she added.
YMCA Macau has worked together with Sands China to carry out responsible gaming promotions in the community for over six years.
Sands China was the first integrated resort operator in Macao to launch a self-exclusion programme in 2004, and was a pioneer in including responsible gaming training in its company-wide team member orientation programme. Sands China established its comprehensive responsible gaming programme in 2007, with the goals of contributing to the continuous development of the Macau community, bearing corporate responsibility in addressing social issues and developing an environment and a culture of responsible gaming in Macao.
From left: Austin Vong, Grace Kuan and Pak Kin Pong
Abstract
Purpose
Employees play a significant role in implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. This paper aims to examine the perceived importance of CSR practices and identifies improvement areas of CSR practices using the importance-performance analysis from Macao’s casino employees’ perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a literature review of CSR in the hospitality industry and ISO 26000, a comprehensive set of CSR practices including responsible gaming practices was identified. Data were collected from 298 casino employees. Importance-performance analysis as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to identify important CSR practices and the factor structure of CSR in Macao’s gaming industry.
Findings
Corporate Social Responsibility In Macau Gambling Industry Authority
Employees rated “providing good wages and health insurance” as the most important practice, followed by “creating a health and safe working environment” and “be fair and honest with employees.” The importance-performance analysis shows that employees perceived their firms performing well in “providing good wages and health insurance,” “protecting consumer data and consumer privacy” and “providing good consumer service and support.” The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicate that CSR in Macao’s gaming industry encompasses seven factors, namely, “Labor Practices,” “The Environment,” “Fair Operating Practices,” “Consumer Issues,” “Human Rights,” “Community Involvement” and “Responsible Gaming”.
Originality/value
Casino employees shape customer experience, recognizing and understanding how employees view CSR practices can help casino operators refine their CSR initiatives.
Keywords
Citation
Huang, G. and To, W.M. (2018), 'Importance-performance ratings of corporate social responsibility practices by employees in Macao’s gaming industry', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 30 No. 9, pp. 2870-2887. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-09-2017-0600
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Publisher
: Emerald Publishing Limited
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