ESG Watch (May 2022)

Pragmatic Play donates €18,000 to two autism charities in honour of World Autism Awareness Month

Igaming slots and content supplier Pragmatic Play confirmed the donation of €18,000 (£15,330.51) to two established autism charities for World Autism Awareness Month.

The first of these charities was Romania-based Autism Voice, which assists families with autistic children in its two sites. The charity is also set to open a new research centre in the heart of Bucharest and will include spaces for research and development of therapy programs, as well as private areas for consultations.

The donation from Pragmatic Play will assist in funding the aforementioned site, which is due to open later in the year.

The other charity is the Malta-based Autism Parents Association. The donations made by the provider have bought video games consoles, board games and other interactive tools that the charity uses as part of its youth project, Social Integration Programme for Teens (SIPT).

Discussing the donations, Pragmatic Play CEO Julian Jarvis said: “Our CSR programme is extremely important to us, as we look to assist those in the communities that we’ve become part of. As April was World Autism Awareness Month, it gave us a perfect chance to work with charities close to our hearts and make a tangible difference.

“It has been a great experience working with both the Autism Parents Association and Autism Voice, and we look forward to being able to support them going forward.”

888 to use biodegradable poker chip bags for all live events

888 recently announced that it had partnered with ECOSEC, which provides tamper-evident security solutions, to use its biodegradable poker chip bags at all upcoming 888LIVE events, which started with 888poker Live Barcelona, which happened between 12-23 May 2022.

Ahead of the event in Barcelona, 888poker replaced the secure bags previously used with ECOSEC’s bags made from a Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), which has an additive that makes the plastic oxo-biodegradable.

The initial purchase by 888 will remove approximately 130kg of plastic from circulation. This partnership also supports ECOSEC’s new campaign, Poker Against Plastic Pollution, which works with charities to plant trees to offset the impacts of pollution.

Shai Tabibian, head of B2C at 888, commented: “We are proud that 888 will be the first major operator to partner with ECOSEC as part of this extremely progressive initiative. We see innovation partnerships like this as a win-win-win for us, event organisers and the environment alike, and crucial in our efforts to positively minimise our impact on the environment.

“Plastic chip bags have been used for many years, and we hope that this is the beginning of a new, more ecologically-friendly world of poker and gaming as we look into the future.”

Karim Louis, CEO of ECOSEC, added: “The Poker Against Plastic Pollution campaign came about after I started playing in poker festivals. It became clear to me that chip bags are essential for securing poker chips and in a tournament organiser’s processes, but that my organisation could have a global impact in improving environmental awareness across the industry.

“These new biodegradable bags are a bold invention, enabling players to post about their progress on social media in the usual way while also doing their bit for the environment. We’re very much looking forward to delivering these new bags to 888 for the first time and to continuing to partner with them at future events.”

ICE consumer protection zone raises £46,000 for charity

At the recent ICE London igaming conference in April, £46,000 was raised for three charitable organisations as part of the conference’s Consumer Protection Zone (CPZ).

Beneficiaries include safer gambling organisations GamCare (£20,000), the Responsible Gaming Council (£20,000) and Better Change (£6,000). The fund was made up of £6,000 donations from bet365, Kindred, Entain, Videoslots, Sky Betting and Gaming and IMG Arena respectively.

The rest of the money was made up by a £10,000 donation from Ambassadeurs Group. This latest round of donations has made the total raised for gambling industry charities over the last three ICE London conferences to £146,000.

On the growth of the CPZ, Ewa Bakun, Clarion Gaming’s Director of Industry Insight and Engagement, said: “This year’s Consumer Protection Zone had a new high profile position close to the main boulevard at ExCeL London, which made it easier to locate and had a beneficial impact on traffic to the feature.

“All of the exhibitors mentioned the benefits of the new position, and I believe that over the four editions of ICE which represents a relatively short time frame, the CPZ has become a focal point of the ICE London experience and a key component of the exhibition.”

Sportradar offers job opportunities in technology for citizens of Ukraine

Sportradar had posted job opportunities in technology for Ukrainians and citizens of other countries who had been displaced by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Sportradar offered roles in Seville, Warsaw, Vienna, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Oslo and Trondheim, Gera and Munich. The company emphasised that they increased recruitment efforts to help Ukrainian refugees seeking employment.

Sportradar confirmed that these are expedited jobs, and they will try and speed up the usual application and interview processes so that they can do what is best for candidates with further support offered further down the line.