The UK industry gathers at Aspers to launch the Responsible Gambling Trust
The UK's biggest gaming groups met in April at the country's largest casino to launch the Responsible Gambling Trust - a new charity designed to streamline a process that "wasn't working."
The event, held at Aspers at Westfield Stratford City, officially launched the new-look charity, which will take on the fundraising and commissioning roles previously held by the GREaT Foundation and the Responsible Gambling Fund. Former Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe also attended the event following his appointment as a trustee of the charity.
Marc Etches, the organisation's chief executive officer, thanked the GREaT Foundation's supporters and announced that the industry had achieved its target of raising £5m last year to fund research and treatment of problem gambling.
“It is important to remember that while we are here to launch the Gambling Trust, originally today we would have been celebrating those that have supported the GREaT Foundation through fundraising, not just since 2009 but specifically in the last financial year, and I would like to acknowledge those organisations,” he said. “In fact, in the last year just short of 700 companies have donated to the GREaT Foundation and I can tell you that we have achieved the £5m target that we had for this year.”
This, he said, was achieved despite it having been a far from easy year economically for everyone. He paid particular praise to William Hill, Rank Group, Ladbrokes, Gala Coral and Betfair, all of which have underwritten the £5m target for the last three years. Several companies, namely PokerStars, Bet365 and Gamesys, significantly increased their financial support in the last year.
There is a "sense of optimism" with the launch of the new Trust, so much so that the fundraising target for 2012/13 is being set higher. These new arrangements are designed to improve the whole process.
"The purpose of the merger is to streamline the fundraising and distribution process, thereby maximising the money raised from the gambling industry in Britain to minimise problem gambling and gambling-related harm in British society through effective education and prevention techniques, which stop people getting into problems with their gambling, and ensuring that those that do develop problems receive fast and effective treatment and support," he added.
This feature can be read in full in the May 2012 issue of InterGaming magazine
