Bally’s donates $5m to college to provide gaming-based degrees

Community College of Rhode Island is the lucky college that received the grant.

Bally’s Corporation (Bally’s) has donated $5m to the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Foundation. The funding will aid CCRI’s gaming, hospitality and security programs.

The partnership between Bally’s and CCRI was announced during an event on the Flanagan Campus, during which Governor Daniel McKee, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, House Majority Leader Chris Blazejewski, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim, CCRI Interim President Dr. Rosemary A. Costigan and former CCRI President Dr. Meghan Hughes were present.

CCRI educates nearly 20,000 students each year and the college serves more students from low-income backgrounds and more students of color than any other higher education facility in Rhode Island.

The $5m investment will be put towards providing gaming-focused degrees at CCRI, which will become the only college in Rhode Island to provide this and will be one of few higher education institutions in New England to offer these courses.

The new gaming program will be a mix of on-site and off-site learning such as traditional classroom learning, combined with the opportunities to work at a Bally’s location as well as hospitality, casino and hotel management-specific courses such as casino operations, cybersecurity, iGaming operations, dealer training, hotel management, slot technology and culinary arts.

CCRI aims to have the degree programs available by Fall 2024.

Alongside the degree program, Bally’s investment will also contribute towards scholarships to create opportunities for those who want to enter the gaming industries but don’t have the financial means to pay for courses or education to get themselves there.

Governor McKee said, “The generous gift provided by one Rhode Island-based company for the benefit of so many of our state’s community college students is a powerful way to advance economic and social opportunity and teach meaningful, transferable workforce skills. I applaud Bally’s for investing in our state’s higher education system and our students.”

Isabella Santos

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