Rymax SVP of Sales Paul Gordon believes the casino industry needs to start fighting its own corner when discussing its impact on areas of the US.

Speaking to Gambling Insider for its G2E Preview magazine, Gordon explained how casinos have a more positive role to play in society than they are often given credit for, in the revitalisation of struggling communities.

Gordon said: “There’s sometimes a bit of a negative reaction to a casino, that people are going to lose their money. That’s really not what casinos are all about.

“Casinos create jobs, they create opportunities, they create infrastructures.

“You go into some of these places like the Catskills in up-state New York, where Resorts World recently opened up a casino; it was a decimated community but now they need schools, they need policemen and they need restaurants.”

Although Gordon is confident he works in a “great industry,” he would like operators to speak more openly about the positive influence they provide.

Gordon concludes: “Part of what G2E and the industry need to do is to tout the benefits casinos bring to communities when they come in.”

The full interview will be available in September, when Gambling Insider’s G2E Preview magazine goes live.