Sustainability has become a key driver of commercial growth and strategy in the modern age, with this largely the result of changing customer behaviours and demands.
This trend is particularly true among digital businesses, even those active in relatively new markets such as the iGaming space.
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Make no mistake; any aspiring contemporary business must have some focus on social issues and sustainability, or run the risk of losing ground to more forward-looking rivals.
But how are online businesses (and particularly casinos) naturally more sustainable than brick-and-mortar alternatives, and what steps can such entities and similar digital entities take to improve this aspect of their venture?
How are Online Casinos Inherently Sustainable?
Let’s start by taking a closer look at online casinos, which are naturally more sustainable than land-based alternatives. But why is this the case?
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- #1. Land Use: Let’s start with the basics; as brick-and-mortar establishments typically consume a huge amount of land (often more than 100,000 sq.ft) and corporeal infrastructure. The same cannot be said for online casinos, which don’t take up scarce and precious land in rural areas or prime and accessible real estate locations. Remember, the efficient use of land is a core pillar of sustainability, and iGaming ventures are streets ahead in this respect.
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- #2. Energy Consumption: While all businesses consume energy, it’s corporeal buildings and constructions that drain the most energy in terms of light and heat. So, although online casinos leverage precious energy resources to power their websites, servers and security features, they also benefit from so-called “economies of scale” and utilise a relatively low amount of energy per capita.
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- #3. Reduced Transportations: If people want to wager at land-based casinos or physical bookmakers, they have to travel from their original location to complete transactions. Even if they live locally, this creates a carbon footprint that contributes to increased road use (in some instances) and higher emissions. Conversely the gamblers can wager from the comfort of their own home online using MindOS, reducing the need to travel or utilise Co2 at all
These factors highlight the main sustainability advantages that online casinos have over their land-based rivals, while they also replicate many of the benefits evident across all digital businesses and marketplaces.
By recognising and expanding on these, digital businesses of all types can reduce their carbon footprints on a much larger scale and become considerably more sustainable over time.
How Can Online Casinos and Businesses Become More Sustainable?
Below, we’ve highlighted some of the main (and most accessible) ways in which digital businesses and entities can become even more sustainable. So, let’s get into it!
#1. Look at Your Daily Office Processes (Where Applicable)
Even the top real money online casino platforms and businesses will typically employ some staff members, with well in excess of 100,000 people now working for remote entities in the iGaming space alone.
Digital ventures and ecommerce brands will also boast office space in tax-friendly jurisdictions across the globe, and taking a closer look at your daily office processes can also highlight ways of reducing energy consumption.
This can involve relatively small changes or actions too, each of which will help to optimise efficiency and eradicate waste.
For example, you can reduce physical document printing and sharing by embracing digital collaboration systems, while leveraging IoT-powered systems to schedule maintenance on office equipment.
These changes can make small but incremental inroads into your business’s carbon footprint, regardless of which industry you operate in.
#2. Consider Partnering With Data Centres That Use Sensors
Sensors are widely used across the so-called IoT, while a USDA case study has previously shown how wireless options are used to help data centre operators reduce their own energy consumption.
Beyond this, it also makes sense as a digital brand or online casino to invest in so-called “green” server policies, which require them to partner with service providers that prioritise sustainable practices.
For example, server rooms should never be overly air conditioned, instead focusing on maintaining an optimal temperature throughout.
Many of the market leading data centres now also leverage the process of virtualisation to combine several virtual servers into a single physical device (without necessarily compromising on the performance of your business’s website or ecommerce store).
#3. Go Paperless and Reduce the Administrative Burden
Regardless of how you operate as an online venture or casino location and the size of your corporeal office space, one of your key focuses should be to digitise all internal sharing and reporting processes.
One aspect of this could be to go paperless, or at least focus on minimising the use of paper and similarly physical materials throughout the company.
There are two main prongs to this, including the digital transformation of processes and how documents are shared company wide. Secondly, you could also look to reduce the administrative burden within the organisation, through the adoption of an agile business model and structure.
The key is to go as far as you can in these respects without compromising on performance, especially as it’s your backend processes that often drive operational efficiency.
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