Entain and Flutter entertainmentaccounted the largest voluntary contributions to GambleAwareoverthe past year. However, the charity organization is calling on the UK government to move with urgency regarding the upcoming consultations about a statutory levied on the gambling industry.
Ladbrokes Coral Group(Entain) was the that contributed the most with PS15.2m. Paddy Power Betfair (“Flutter”) and Sky Betting and Gaming (“Flutter”) followed with PS8.2m.
William Hill contributed PS4.6m followed by bet365and other Flutter entities.
Bet365’s Hillside UK Sports, Hillside UK Technology and Hillside UK Gaming contributed respectively PS2.4m (£Sports), PS1.7m (£Technology) & PS907,000 (£Gaming), while Flutter’s Tombola, TSG Interactive Services/PokerStars UK and TSG Interactive Services/PokerStars UK each donated respectively PS943,133 & PS650,000.
Camelot UK Lotteries contributed PS445,000. Next was Rank Interactive, with PS194,605, Petfre, Betfred, with PS194,632, 888 holdings, with PS190,000. BetVictor, with PS188,772. Mecca Bingo, Rank, with PS122.967.
GambleAware reported that 92 percent of all donations in 2022/23 (PS42.9m), came from four of the largest gambling operators in UK. This is an increase compared to last year (2021/22 PS30.9m), as operators increased their percentage of gross gaming yields they donate from 0.1 to 1% by 2023/24.
Companies with an annual GGY less than PS250,000 should donate a minimum amount of PS250.
In the UK Government’s recently publishedgambling White Paper, there are proposals to impose a statutory levie on operators, which would force them to fund gambling research, prevention, and treatment to organizations such as GambleAware, instead of donating voluntarily.
GambleAware welcomes the proposal of a statutory levie, but urges the UK government to move quickly with upcoming consultations, “to ensure that the measures outlined in the consultations are implemented rapidly, while ensuring that voluntary donations from the industry do not stagnate or decline during this transition period”.
Zoe Osmond is the Chief Executive Officer of GambleAware. She stated that funding was essential to the successful delivery of National Gambling Support Network, and other programs to address gambling harm.
We welcome the government’s plans to introduce a gambling levy, as outlined in their Gambling White Paper. This will provide stable funding. We hope the changes will be implemented quickly, as any delay could slow down the pace of transformation in prevention and treatment services, as described in our five-year strategy.
