GVC Provides Top Funding to GambleAware in First Half of 2019

Betting support body GambleAware has said that GVC has pledged the most funding for 2019 to date. The six month period ending on 20 September 2010 sees GVC Holdings top the list of pledges, with William Hill coming in second place.

The UK charity for gambling problems says that it has received more money than the previous year but warns it still isn’t sufficient to meet demand.

Industry Contributors  

GambleAware is a self-funded organization and relies primarily on money which is pledged by betting companies in the UK.

GVC has matched its contribution for the previous year, pledging a total of £1.46 million in the six month period. William Hill were the next highest, offering £1 million while Bet365 and Rank gave £868,000 and £284, 540 respectively.

Betway, Betvictor, Praesepe Holdings and Playtech all pledged more than £100,000 during the period.

In total, the pledges for the six month period came to £5.4 million, a sum which does not include any regulatory income.

The sum that GVC has pledged so far matches the donation it gave for the whole of 2018-2019, with William Hill in the same position.

A number of major players in the betting industry are notably absent from the list so far, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be contributing. The £5.4 million pledged is for the first six months of the year only so companies such as Flutter could appear with their contribution later in the financial year.

Growing financial pressure 

Despite the pledges, GambleAware warned that it could still fall short of the money needed to carry out its support activity.

The body had previously asked for a total of £10 million from the industry and has requesting that all organizations donate a minimum of 0.1% of their gross gambling yield each year. A number of companies have committed to upping their contribution from 0.1% to 1% within a 5 year period. These include Flutter, William Hill, Bet365, GVC Holdings and Sky Betting & Gaming. The latter is owned by The Stars Group which is currently the subject of a proposed merger with Flutter.

Unfortunately, not every betting company in the industry has been willing to offer voluntary support. GambleAware asks for a token payment of £250 for any business with a turnover of less than £250,000 but a number of companies paid just £1 last year.