Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN MAR 2019 72 IN FOCUS Ben Blaschke: Can you tell us a bit about the history of Women in Gaming Australasia (WGA) and what you are working to achieve? Helen Galloway: WGA was founded by The Star Entertainment Group and Aristocrat in May 2017. They identified gender equality issues were not isolated to one company and the greatest impact would be through a united industry approach. WGA received registration as a not for profit entity in November 2017. I was employed in March 2018 and together with our Project Manager, Stephanie, we have been marching forward to remove barriers and increase opportunities for the advancement of women in the gaming industry. Women in Gaming has five focus areas: • Increasing the awareness of women’s contribution to the industry • Identifying and removing barriers to the entry, retention and advancement of women • Providing a common meeting ground for women • Fostering the continual professional development of women via mentoring, training, scholarships and awards • To unite with other industry organisation to promote equitable outcomes for women. WGA currently has five corporate partners: The Star Entertainment Group, Aristocrat, SKYCITY, Crown Resorts and ALH Group. We are actively seeking more corporate partners to join us, as more partners increases awareness and allows more programs to be delivered. This in turn allows better transformation of the systemic gender issues within the industry. BB: What motivated you to become involved in this important initiative? HG: I was motivated by my own lived experiences within the industry. As I became more aware of the barriers I faced and could see them limiting other women, I also became aware that there are actions that everyone can take and if they do these on a regular basis we can reduce the systemic issues. For example, back in 2011 Rob Goldstein from Las Vegas Sands invited me to join the Global Gaming Executive. I was the first and only female alongside nine males and we created the strategy for all the jurisdictions of LVS. There was one particular strategy that I suggested and we then proceeded to change the strategic direction of Sands China for a significant part of the market. This was a huge change for Sands China and proved to be incredibly profitable for many years. In this example,