UK operators donated £3.8m to GambleAware's Bet Regret campaign
Operator donations to UK safer gambling charity surpass £10m voluntary funding mark for 2019-20
GambleAware has reported a record £10.05m in funding from UK operators during 2019/20, the largest annual funding figure received in the charity’s history.
GVC made the largest voluntary contribution to GambleAware in 2019/20, donating £1.4m to the charity, while fellow operators Flutter Entertainment and William Hill each donated £1m.
Bet365 voluntarily donated £868,000 to GambleAware in 2019/20, just ahead of Sky Betting & Gaming and parent company The Stars Group (TSG), which contributed a combined £830,000.
Gamesys Group made a total donation of £426,000 during the period, with a further £690,000 paid in the form of a regulatory settlement following a UKGC investigation in June.
Fellow operator LeoVegas made voluntary contributions totalling £69,290 to GambleAware for the year, donating a further £600,000 through its own regulatory settlement with the UKGC.
UK casino operator Rank Group donated £426,675, while sports betting operator Betway gave a total of £153,500 to the charity in 2019/20.
Genesis Global, BetVictor and Playtech all donated in excess of £100,000 to the charity during 2019/20, with Kindred Group’s 32Red brand donating a total of £95,000.
Marc Etches, CEO of GambleAware, said: “For the 10th year in a row, we have seen an increase in donations, which means for the first time, we have been able to meet our minimum target of £10m.”
UK operators are asked to donate annually a minimum of 0.1% of their annual gross gambling yield (GGY) directly to GambleAware.
However, five of the UK’s biggest bookmakers in bet365, GVC, William Hill, Sky Bet and Flutter have all pledged to increase this to 1% of GGY over the next five years.
In addition to its core funding from UK-licensed operators, GambleAware received a total of £1.5m from regulatory settlements agreed via the UKGC through its investigations under LCCP standards.
GambleAware also confirmed an additional £3.8m received from companies supporting its Bet Regret campaign during 2019/20.
Funding was given by 11 operators, with Betting and Gaming Council members Flutter, GVC, bet365 and Hills donating more than £2.8m of this total to the campaign. In addition, the charity has revealed it received ‘in kind’ donations of £1.5m from broadcasters including Sky, BT Sports, ITV, Google and Facebook.