Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | February 2014 38 In FOCUS W hat value do you place on diversity in the workplace? Well, when it comes to company boards and corporate governance within the gaming industry, it can mean the difference between a business with good PR that is operating on all cylinders and one with a bad public image that is just sputtering along. AETHOS Consulting Group evaluates corporate governance practices and, in partnership with Casino Journal magazine, has determined and reported on the gaming industry’s top boards for more than a decade. This annual study closely examines board makeup, independence, committee structure and executive pay-for- performance in determining a governance score for each company. As in past years, this gaming board ranking explored the following five areas of corporate governance: Roaring Ahead This year’s ranking of gaming’s best boards emphasized diversity, clearing the way for MGM Resorts to capture the top spot By Keith Kefgen & Juliette Boone , AETHOS Consulting Group • Size, makeup, independence and diversity of the board; • Committee structure, number of meetings and effectiveness; • Extent of related party transactions; • Board self-evaluation and communication; and • Pay-for-performance models for board and executive pay. There is one difference from previous studies, however: this year’s report emphasizes the importance of diversity at the board level, and we have given it added importance in our scoring system. For longtime readers of this study, that means the top point total a company can reach is now 45 points. Another item to keep in mind with this year’s report: corporate consolidation narrowed the playing field in this year’s study. In total, 26 companies were evaluated, a decrease from 32 in last year’s