UK's big five betting operators form responsible gambling committee
Committee formed to make recommendations on the deployment of funding for safer gambling initiatives
Five of the United Kingdom's most prominent betting operators have agreed to form an independent committee to help determine how to rightly allocate funding towards responsible gambling and problem gambling treatment.
This news comes only days after Ladbrokes Coral were fined £5.9m for failing to protect vulnerable customers between 2014 and 2017.
Who will make up the committee?
The new organisation will be chaired by Conservative member of the House of Lords, Lord Chadlington, who was a Director of the charity Action on Addiction from 1999 until 2007.
Representatives from the 'big-five' betting operators that will make up the committee are as follows:
- GVC (Ladbrokes Coral)
- Flutter Entertainment (Betfair and Paddy Power)
- Bet365
- Sky Betting and Gaming
- William Hill
It has also been announced that there will be more additions to the committee which will be announced by September, with the group publishing their "recommendations on the most appropriate mechanisms for receiving and administering funds and monitoring their deployment" by the end of this year.
All members of the committee will be undertaking their roles within the committee unpaid, completely voluntarily.
Commitment towards the cause
The group of companies have recently made a commitment to raise their voluntary contribution to safer gambling measures to 1% of gross gambling yield. This will involve an initial increase from 0.1% to 0.25% in 2020, rising in equal instalments to 1% by 2023 – a cumulative total of £100 million over four years, and £60 million annually thereafter.
They have stated that they hope that other gambling companies will join them in this endeavour.
Group statement
A spokesperson on behalf of the five companies making up the committee has said: “We are absolutely committed to providing further funding toward treatment and other responsible gambling initiatives, and we believe the committee will identify and recommend how best to deploy effectively this investment.
"We believe this is an important step towards creating a safer gambling environment and look forward to reviewing and implementing its recommendations later this year.”
