SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Gamesys has topped the list of donations made to industry charity GambleAware after figures showed the online operator group donated a total of £450,000.
Publishing its industry donation figures for 1 April – 30 September 2020, GambleAware revealed that it had received a total of £2,286,000 in contributions from the industry, not taking regulatory settlements into account.
Betway was the second highest donor for the period with a £134,000 contribution, followed by Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited – the operating company for Betfred – which donated £61,840.
UK licensing requirements stipulate that all license holders should contribute 0.1% of their annual Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) directly to GambleAware, requesting those with an annual gross gambling revenue of less than £250,000 per annum to donate a minimum of £250.
The funds are used by the charity to help the development of initiatives targeted towards the prevention and treatment of problem gambling across the industry.
The list of donors consists of UK licensed operators and suppliers, in addition to donations in the form of unclaimed winnings, dormant accounts and other funds.
888 Holdings also made the list of highest donors, having contributed £50,000 over the six month period.
Further to its contributions, GambleAware received a series of pledges during Q1 and Q2. William Hill committed to donating £1.04 million for 2020/21, followed by Praesepe Holdings Ltd which promised £85,500.
Praesepe Holdings had also made a £28,000 donation during the April – September period, bringing its total commitment for 2020/21 to date to £110,500.
From April – September, the charity also received £8.8 million in regulatory settlements from William Hill and Betway.
William Hill’s Mr Green division was penalised as part of the Gambling Commission’s targeted investigation into online casinos, with the commission imposing a £3 million penalty after the operator ‘failed to have effective procedures aimed at preventing harm and money laundering’.
Meanwhile, Betway was ordered to pay £5.8 million ‘in lieu of a financial penalty which will be directed towards delivering the ‘National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms’.
