The gambling charity GambleAware has published its donations and pledges for the first half of its financial year.
The British gambling charity, GambleAware, has revealed that it received £2.3m (€2.5m/$3.0m) in donations and pledges in the first half of its financial year.
The charity’s H1 figures cover the period between 1 April and 30 September 2020 and revealed that the charity’s donations and pledges did not include regulatory settlements.
UK licencing conditions require all licence holders to donate at least 0.1% of their annual gross gambling yield (GGY) directly to the charity. For companies with annual revenues less than £250,000 to contribute a minimum of £250.
GambleAware uses the donations to help with the development of initiatives which are intended to help prevent and treat problem gambling across the industry.
Looking at the donations
The software developer Gamesys made the largest donation in the first half of the charity’s financial year with a contribution of £450,000.
The online gambling operator Betway was the second-highest donor in H1 with a £134,000 contribution. Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, Betfred’s operating company, donated £61,840 to the charity.
888 Holdings was also among the top donors after contributing £50,000 to the charity over the first half of the charity’s fiscal year. Casumo also committed to two donations of £27,446 and £16,170.
In addition to its donations, GambleAware received several pledges in both Q1 and Q2. Bookmaker William Hill committed to donating £1.04 million for 2020/21 along with Praesepe Holdings Ltd which pledged £85,500 to the charity.
Praesepe Holdings also made a £28,000 donation to GambleAware, bringing its total commitment for the fiscal year to £110,500
Between April and September GambleAware received £8.8m in regulatory settlements from Betway and William Hill.
William Hill’s Mr Green brand was penalised as part of the Gambling Commission’s investigation into online casinos. The regulator fined the operator £3m after it came to light that the operator “failed to have effective procedures aimed at preventing harm and money laundering”
Betway was ordered to pay £5.8m in place of a financial penalty which will be put towards delivering the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms.
GambleAware releases invitation to tender for support network
Earlier this week, GambleAware released an invitation to tender for a partner to support in the creation of a new nationwide network of people with lived experience of gambling-related Britain.
The charity expects the network to cost between £70,000 and £90,000 and could take 18 months to create.
GambleAware said that the reason behind the project was due to the fact that there is no single network in the UK that represents people suffering from gambling harms.
An informational event for potential bidders will be held on 28 October and requests for clarification must be submitted before 30 October. Bidders must submit proposals on 17 November which GambleAware will assess over 19 and 20 November. A winning bid will be selected on 25 November.
