Gambling charity may lose donations

Around 25 per cent of money due to be donated by the gaming industry to a gambling harm charity may be held back, claims UK newspaper The Guardian.

GambleAware may lose out on donations by the four biggest gambling companies in membership of the Betting and Gaming Council that had elected to direct funds to it in the past.

Bet365, Entain, William Hill and Flutter will direct a quarter of their contributions to projects they have chosen themselves instead of to GambleAware.

The charity uses the money in a variety of ways, which may be prevention work, treatment or research. The funds were estimated to reach £100m in the four years from the last funding announcement made by the Betting and Gaming Council in 2020.

The news of the reduction in income had come from sources within GambleAware, said the newspaper. A statutory levy on the industry is among the options available to the UK government in the white paper on gambling reform that is now long overdue for publication.