Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG) and its small, women, and minority (SWaM)-certified equity partner, Virginia Sports Technology Group (VSTG), presented a $1 million donation to Virginia’s historically Black colleges and universities. The funding will be distributed equally to all five of the Commonwealth’s HBCUs — Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and Virginia University of Lynchburg.
The event coincides with the pending launch of GNOG’s online sports wagering in Virginia. In addition to the donation, and in conjunction with the ongoing operation of online wagering within Virginia, the company has committed to sharing four percent of net gaming revenue with the HBCUs, including an annual minimum shared donation of no less than $500,000.
“The current one-million-dollar contribution to the Virginia HBCU community is a welcomed boost to the collective effort to continue providing world class education to the citizens of the Commonwealth,” said NSU President Javaune Adams-Gaston. She also told the contributors that their “ongoing commitment to annual contributions will be used to provide scholarship support for our students.”
Dr. Adams-Gaston characterized the contribution as an investment in Virginia’s HBCUs that will help these institutions create “a workforce that is diverse, that is excellent, and is first day ready.”
Toward that end, she mentioned that NSU is well-positioned to provide a talent pool for the emergent online industries. “In the past few years, NSU is uniquely positioned to support this emerging area by training cybersecurity, cyberpsychology, and computer engineering graduates.”