iGB L ! VE Steven Myers will be leading a discussion on sustainability and its impact on M & A at iGB L ! VE on 17 July at 15:35 action could have been mitigated by better management of the risk involved earlier in the acquisition process .
Ultimately , we aim to provide a level playing field , measuring the open source data comparatively to the sector peer group .
The results elicit key themes and findings that are in the public domain but have previously not been assessed on such a comprehensive basis .
GREENWASHING MATTERS
Greenwashing is said to be rampant generally , especially as sustainability reporting gets more stringent , and particularly as regards the environment . Companies in regulated gaming are generally less exposed to environmental issues – it is often the social or governance aspects that provide the pain point . The industry arguably hasn ’ t worked out an effective way of conveying materiality around these metrics .
Some other industries have managed to forge a way forward through more transparent and consistent reporting across the sector . This has served to protect from reputational damage and has provided both a consistent and aligned response to any challenges .
However , we believe it is possible for the industry to improve its standing from both an individual company and industry collective perspective over time , as well as decrease the gap between gaming and other sectors , including other “ sin ” sectors . For example , alcohol has spent close to 20 years developing and honing its outward-facing reputation .
The reality is that the gaming sector could actually improve its fortunes much more quickly in comparison due to many of the things it already does within its expansive compliance function . This would dovetail nicely with increasing ESG and wider reporting requirements
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SUSTAINABILITY PLUS : UNLOCKING VALUE CREATION
The more the gaming sector can do to demonstrate the performance of the motherhood actions within Sustainability Plus reporting , the more it will reap the benefits .
At present we have noted that land-based operators actually have better sustainability performance than igaming operators , for example . This is despite the environmental compliance , and its corresponding costs , that need to be incurred .
While this may be due to regulated gaming being a younger industry with an emerging management cadre , we see this gap closing over time as the industry gets more serious about reaping the benefits of framing and documenting performance .
In reality , we see numerous companies in the sector at a loss over the best way to approach sustainability . It doesn ’ t sit naturally with their skillsets .
Introducing a sustainability officer and promoting ESG across their companies is an important step in the right direction , but from the evidence we have seen leadership in the C-suite has as yet been unable to unlock the upside from a strong Sustainability Plus standing .
Our focus is to ultimately unlock value for companies and unlock returns for investors as the gaming market continues to be increasingly pressured by costs , competition , regulatory burden and significant reputational issues . Nonetheless , gaming continues to offer tremendous growth and returns opportunities for capital allocators .
The gaming industry ultimately needs to take advantage of the sustainability movement and look at the upsides of improved , industry-specific ESG reporting that can provide tangibly better outcomes than are achieved at present .
iGB L ! VE 2024 • ISSUE 136 • 69