First of all we want to ask you about the impact of the pandemic. We know that Aristocrat doubled down on the game development and kept the staff employed and creative during that time. How have you dealt with the situation and what are the results of that decision, now that the world is gradually returning to the new normal?

History has taught us that one of the key things successful companies do during economic downturns is the don’t retreat from innovation and development; instead, they double down on them. World events and economies are cyclical, and successful companies have proven that investing during downturns pays long-term dividends. That’s what we decided to do at Aristocrat. When the industry shut down, we ramped up. We knew that investing in design and development would help our customers draw their players back to the fun, giving them new gaming experience to look forward to. And 12-18 months later, we are still reaping those rewards with a strong portfolio of products that are continuously the top of analysts’ charts. As you look at our content library, and then look at 3rd parties like the Eilers Report that publishes best games lists, you see the power of portfolio we have created by continuing to move forward with our innovation pipeline.

We'd also like to know about the diversity and inclusion measures that the firm has taken within its staff.

We have a mantra at Aristocrat, which is “our people, our customers, our business.” For us, that means genuinely focusing on people and putting them at the center of the business lifts the entire business. That’s why one of the strategic pillars in our long-term strategy is committing ourselves fully to DE&I. One of our guiding principles is if you set targets and measure them, it creates actions. Some people might misconstrue that principle to mean we are setting percentages or quotas of the types of people we want to attract to Aristocrat; however, that’s not what that means. It means, because DE&I is a strategic pillar, then we are focused on it throughout the business. It is something we look at through hiring practices, and we have consciously made changes right down to how we write job descriptions to ensure they are inclusive. As we look internally at who are the folks making decisions, we ensure we have diverse panel of thought for every role, because we know that makes us better.

We wanted to take this one step further, and one new initiative that we launched during the pandemic is our Aristocrat Future Leaders program, or AFL. One of the things we realized is we need to make sure we create a continual pipeline for the best talent, and one of the ways to impact at entry level and partner with other organizations to bring this to life. For example, we created partnerships with Latinas in Power AISES ALPFA to create lines for future leaders to enter our business. When people think about DE&I, their benefits package might be the last thing they think about; however, we analyzed our benefits package and added missing elements to reflect the many faces of Aristocrat today and tomorrow, to make it clear that we are inclusive of all walks of life. Lats, we created Employee Impact Groups, and today there are eight of them in the U.S. alone, and these groups further help to ensure that our diverse range of employees are seen, heard, and recognized.

Has the firm any novelties regarding responsible gaming?

Responsible gaming is at the core of everything we do and is a part of all of our strategic discussions. We understand we are in the entertainment industry, and we make best content for players, and we want what we create to be consumed in a responsible way. To further strengthen our responsible gaming initiatives, we have been testing a few new concepts. For example, our Australian office developed product called “In Partnership with Regulators,” which goes to the core of responsible gaming and underscores how serious we are about it as a company. One of the products we are launching in Australia is called “Flexiplay,” which allows players to voluntarily set time limits and quarantine winnings from being played down via a timer and piggy bank functions. ACT has now approved the first games to incorporate “Flexiplay” technology, which it plans to roll out during the current quarter.

Has the firm any corporate social responsibility program? If so, tell us about it.

Good business, good citizen. That is a living, breathing, central part of who we are at Aristocrat, and we are very mindful of our host communities. We have a robust CSR program, and because we are publicly traded on the AUS exchange, we are proud to disclose everything we do in our CSR initiatives. Broadly, those initiatives include volunteering and charitable giving, and we invite SoloAzar readers to visit https://www.aristocrat.com/sustainability/community-society/ where they can find a map and hover over various parts of the world and see how much we are doing as a company for our communities. I’m very proud of our efforts, and am thrilled to say we have even earned a US Congressional Commendation for our efforts from US Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada.