Recently, GambleAware published a list of corporate donors for the year that ended on March 31st, 2022. The largest gambling charity organisation in the UK also revealed that the so-called “Big Four” group of UK operators generated almost 90% of all contributions to good causes.
As GambleAware announced, millions of pounds in donations were made by Flutter Entertainment, Entain and William Hill, with the overall amount donated by the three gambling operators worth £34.7 million.
The British gambling charity further noted that the continued contributions made by the licensed and regulated gambling industry fell in line with the previously-announced commitment to boost their contributions from 0.1% to 1% of their gross gambling yield (GGY) by 2024. Although this has been pointed out as a positive development by GambleAware, the charity organisation still noted there is an inconsistency in the donations made from other operators to its good causes fund.
Zoë Osmund, the chief executive officer of GambleAware, explained that the aforementioned donations funded essential services associated with the prevention of gambling-related harm, as they have been helping build a coalition of expertise to tackle and prevent gambling-related harm in the country.
Ms Osmund welcomed the commitment of the “Big Four” operators to boot their donations in the years to come but she said that the inconsistent approach to funding across the wider gambling sector remains, and this results in instability and uncertainty. That was exactly why the largest gambling charity in the UK has urged the Government to impose a mandatory levy on the local gambling industry as part of the sector’s licensing conditions.
Flutter Entertainment, Entain and William Hill among the Largest GambleAware’s Contributors
According to the list of corporate donors for the 12 months ending on March 31st, 2022, the largest monetary contribution was made by the 5 main UK-facing gambling brands of Flutter Entertainment, donating a combined total of £17.4 million. A breakdown of the five brands’ individual donations saw Sky Betting and Gaming and Betfair contribute £6.1 million and £6 million, respectively, followed by The Stars Group with £680,000, Tombola with £663,599, and Paddy Power with £537,000.
Entain contributed £4 million, while its Ladbrokes Coral Group unit’s donations to GambleAware totalled £4.7 million. The contributions of William Hill were estimated at a total of £4.5 million. Interestingly, GambleAware’s recent list of corporate donors did not feature bet365, but the company is still part of the UK’s Big Four. The company has even been pointed out as the largest contributor to GambleAware’s good causes fund in previous updates of the list. Reportedly, bet365 contributed £4.2 million to the British gambling charity in the first quarter of the 2021/2022 fiscal year.
Some of the other corporate donors’ contributions that were on the larger side included £2.6 million from Hillside UK Sports, £101,768 from Playtech, £92,000 from Platinum Gaming, £60,200 from Betway, £50,000 from 888 UK, £28,756 from LeoVegas, and £28,000 from 32Red.
For the time being, gambling operators make voluntary donations to GambleAware. As mentioned above, the charity has, however, called for the introduction of a mandatory levy on the industry to help fund research, training, education and treatment of gambling-related harm and its negative effect on people’s lives. According to the organisation, such a mandatory levy would make it possible for the charity to ensure better long-term planning and commission services for the prevention of gambling-related harm.
- Author
Daniel Williams
