Responsible Gaming Education Month 2024: Sands Kicks of Team Member Awareness Campaign

During Responsible Gaming Education Month 2024 in September, Sands is again conducting a global Team Member campaign to reinforce the company’s commitment to ensuring safe and responsible gaming environments around the world and raise awareness about the vast array of tools and resources it provides to help resorts educate guests and address risky behavior.

Educational materials will target Team Members education through back-of-house digital signage, Team Member portals, internal communications channels and social media. Themes include Sands’ commitment to building a responsible gaming culture from within, details on the full suite of offerings to promote responsible play, and reinforcement of the compliance measures the company takes to ensure regional gaming regulations are met, and even exceeded.

Responsible Gaming Education Month 2024 also highlights the significant efforts by Sands and its resorts in Macao and Singapore to drive initiatives that encourage responsible play.

“Though Responsible Gaming Education Month is a U.S. observance, we use this month to accelerate Team Member education efforts globally, as well as reflect on the impact we are making toward advancing this core company priority,” Maria Christina Annaloro, director of responsible gaming and government relations, said. “We consistently build on our industry-leading program to ensure we are delivering the latest tools and information to our guests.”

In support of advancing responsible gaming education, Sands China earlier this year announced contributions of nearly $125,000 to five Macao nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Benefiting organizations included the Young Men’s Christian Association of Macau, the Sheng Kung Hui Macau Social Service Coordination Office, the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home, the Youth Volunteers Association of Macao and the Bosco Youth Service Network.

Sands China’s donations will support various responsible gaming efforts, including parent-child responsible gaming and financial management activities, roadshows, workshops, trainings, sharing sessions, responsible gaming promotional videos and quiz games, a responsible gaming community promotion day and more.

The contributions to nongovernmental organizations represent Sands China’s latest responsible gaming investments, which also include significant focus on Team Member training. In 2023, the company collaborated with the Gaming Research Institute of the Faculty of Business Administration of the University of Macau to create and deliver a new, first-in-market training program – RG 360, which was customized for Macao-specific patron traits to help frontline workers increase their knowledge of gambling disorders and ways to assist guests.

The company supplemented training with responsible gaming roadshows that engaged Team Members to elevate their understanding of responsible play, clarify myths and demonstrate the effects of gambling addiction.

In addition, Sands China enhanced responsible gaming ambassador skills last year with advanced training on conversation initiation, appropriate responses, and crisis management and intervention skills, including sessions with UNLV’s world-renowned responsible gaming expert Bo J. Bernhard and the University of Macau. Ambassadors also attended the Macao Responsible Gaming Specialist Ambassador Course, which provided specialized training with a local context.

Responsible gaming ambassadors are stationed on Sands gaming floors on a 24-hour, seven-day-per-week basis to provide support and assist guests.

In total, Sands China provided more than 25,000 hours of responsible gaming training and engagement for more than 23,000 Team Members and held 46 roadshows to support awareness and education last year.

In addition to Team Member training, Sands China also aims to increase responsible gaming awareness among their families. Last year, the company held an inaugural responsible gaming-themed carnival, the first organized by a gaming concessionaire in Macao.

More than 200 Sands China Team Members, members of local NGOs and their children enjoyed an afternoon of fun and educational activities at The Venetian Macao. The carnival included 11 booths, popcorn and hotdog stands, Little Chef hands-on cooking sessions conducted by Sands China chefs and other activities.

Marina Bay Sands in Singapore also conducts a full slate of responsible training and engagement activities. In 2023, the resort received Singapore’s RG Check recertification, while Sands China’s The Parisian Macao and The Plaza Macao received responsible gaming indicator accreditation as Responsible Gambling Model Units.

“These accomplishments are testaments to our deep commitment to providing guests with a responsible environment where they can enjoy gaming and make informed choices,” Annaloro said. “Our suite of program elements – from deploying ambassadors on our gaming floors around the clock to investing in education and awareness – strategically complement each another to create a comprehensive program that protects our guests and communities.”

Sands’ responsible gaming initiatives are part of the comprehensive Sands Project Protect program, which encompasses safeguards and formalized initiatives to encourage responsible gaming, prevent financial crime and promote counter-trafficking measures to promote the safety and well-being of guests, Team Members and local communities. To learn more about Sands’ responsible gaming efforts, read the company’s latest environmental, social and governance report: https://www.sands.com/resources/reports/