Diversity

The commercial casino industry has been a long-time proponent of diversity in the workplace, both in internal hiring and human resources policies as well as in purchasing and contracting practices. The commercial casino industry and the companies that comprise it are engaged in a variety of diversity initiatives.

The AGA’s diversity programs are overseen by the AGA Diversity Task Force. Created in 2000, the task force promotes inclusion in all aspects of the commercial casino industry. It conducts workshops for industry professionals, suppliers, and minority, women, and disadvantaged business enterprises (MWDBE); collects data on industry diversity; and creates and organizes programs designed for industrywide implementation. The task force has three subcommittees: Construction, Human Resources and Purchasing and Contracting.

The success of the industry’s diversity efforts is measured in two reports, Gaming Industry: Employment Diversity Snapshot 2008 and Gaming Industry: Spend Diversity Snapshot 2008. Highlights from the reports include:

• In 2007, casinos employed a greater percentage of Black, Hispanic and Asian workers than the U.S. workforce. Overall, participating casinos employed more minorities than the national U.S. workforce by 20.6 percent.
• Casinos employed more minorities than other businesses in the arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services sectors (by 9.9 percent). They also employed more minority officials and managers, professionals and technicians than these other businesses.
• Overall, casinos purchased more than $631 million in products and services from diverse vendors in 2007, which is 13.2 percent of total eligible commodity spend. This percentage exceeds national standards and is significantly greater than that of other industries.

The reports were prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

In November 2006, the Purchasing and Contracting subcommittee of the AGA Diversity Task Force launched a Tier II Diversity Reporting Program for suppliers. The program requires companies who supply the commercial casino industry with goods and services to report on their own diversity practices in the areas of purchasing and contracting. The program does not mandate a diversity threshold that suppliers have to meet, but the Diversity Task Force informed suppliers that companies doing a better job with diversity would be more attractive business partners for casino companies.

The AGA also participates in a number of events throughout the year that are designed to educate MWDBEs about opportunities in the gaming industry. Networking events, reverse vendor fairs and other opportunities give diverse small businesses the chance to promote their products and services to AGA members.