Microgaming, the world leading casino software developer, has launched Microgaming PlayItForward. This is a community driven corporate social responsibility initiative that focuses on the social pillars of health, sport and education.
The PlayItForward programme becomes the umbrella brand and the official moniker for all of Microgaming's extensive corporate social responsibility activities. This award winning technology company already has several well established and long standing corporate social responsibility initiatives which encompass the health, education, sport, charity and community realms. This includes such activities as the sponsorship of local sports teams and sporting events on the Isle of Man, where the company is headquartered. It also includes the company's recently launched education bursaries scheme and its ambassador programme.
A prime example of Microgaming's corporate social responsibility programmes is the Microgaming Health and Care Trust, which works together with and supports Manx registered charities and local health and social care projects. It has been in existence for over a decade already, having been established in 2002. This trust is one of Microgaming's most powerful corporate social responsibility initiatives and in the decade of its existence has contributed over £800,000, in the form of over 90 different donations.
While the Microgaming Health and Care Trust will now be a part of the Microgaming PlayItForward programme and operate under its auspices, it will remain an independent entity, continuing on its own steam, as it were.
Microgaming reports that it firmly intends to grow its corporate social responsibility programme even further in the years to come. It aims to start supporting more charities, organisations, events and individuals. The company has a clearly stated goal of establishing the Microgaming PlayItForward programme as a strong force for social and community welfare - both on the Isle of Man and further afield. It's clear that the company intends some major expansions in its corporate social responsibility activities in the future.
While online casino operators and providers sometimes suffer from reputational challenges due to the nature of the industry and the perceptions around problem gambling, Microgaming is intent on maintaining and extending brand perception as a responsible and empathetic operator, with one eye kept firmly on the public good. This is one of the central motivations behind the Microgaming PlayItForward initiative and the very public way in which this corporate social responsibility brand will be marketed and exercised. It is probably a response to the perceptual challenges that the online casino industry faces that a Microgaming spokesperson says that the company, while running strong community programmes for more than a decade, has often done it under the radar. However this is set to change, with Microgaming PlayItForward intended to be a very visible initiative where the company will combine all its resources and efforts in service of the community. The strategy is to increase public awareness, which is expected to lead to more and more opportunities to be involved in providing help where it is most needed within communities, specifically on the Isle of Man.