As second-quarter earnings season begins to wind down for the gaming industry, many are questioning whether or not the “big six” casino companies—Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, Red Rock Resorts, Boyd Gaming, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts—are doing enough to promote diversity and inclusion among their top-level staff.
According to a recent report from the Las Vegas Sun, there are a total of 53 directors across the six companies’ boards, and only six are minorities. Of the 53, nearly 70 percent are white men.
Rose McKinney-James, one of two women of color currently serving on MGM Resorts’ board of directors and the former director of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry, told the Sun that “In the gaming industry, we haven’t seen the success that I’d like to see, not only at the board level but in the C-suite as well.”
Darnell Strom, a Los Angeles-based entertainment executive who joined the Wynn Resorts board back in 2020, is one of just four black directors across the six companies.
He echoed similar sentiments, saying that “It’s good governance to have as many perspectives as possible represented in the boardroom.” Strom added that “other factors” besides race and gender are also important as well, including “socioeconomic status and geography and experience.”
The topics of diversity and inclusion have been much more widely discussed in recent years, and numerous companies have announced various campaigns and initiatives to further these discussions.
Caesars announced a campaign last year which presented avenues for staff to be “empowered” to speak up about such issues, but the company no longer features any minorities on its board, following the recent departure from Sandra Douglass-Morgan, who decided to step down after being named president of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Betsy Atkins, a Wynn board member and well-known author of multiple books on corporate structure, said that non-diverse leadership is not only unfortunate, it’s also potentially dangerous for companies.
Atkins told the Sun that ““If everybody looks the same, we’re all the same gender and color and national background and economic background, we all see the same opportunity. We’ll also, however, miss the same risks.”
According to TaChelle Lawson, founder of the marketing firm FIG, the lack of diversity for Las Vegas-based companies is especially alarming, given the high percentage of minority residents in the area.
“If you look at the demographics of our city, the numbers just don’t match,” said Lawson. “When looking at these boards and the communities these companies serve, the numbers are disproportionate.”
