GambleAware reports £430,813 in donations in Q1 2023/24

GambleAware, the organization focusing on furthering the protection of consumers from gambling harm and raising awareness about gambling-related harm, has revealed the amounts it has received in the form of donations over the first quarter of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, the period covering April 1 through June 30, 2023, specifically.

The contributions received by the organization amounted to £430,813.59 over the period and they were divvied up between the Research, Education and Treatment (RET) and non-RET donations, with respective amounts of £317,099.59 and £113,714.00. Donations are currently contributed to organizations such as GambleAware, and specifically for research initiatives through a voluntary system in the United Kingdom. A full list of the contributors is publicly available at GambleAware’s website.

Basically, companies in the United Kingdom can choose how much to donate to such initiatives but no less than 0.1% of their gross gambling yield on an annual basis. There has been a noticeable uptick in the amounts being forwarded to research in recent years, however, as the UK is preparing for one of its most ambitious market re-regulations.

Industry insiders have called some of theproposed changes to lack foundation, but the industry as a whole has discovered that there is very little research that takes a proper look at the harm gambling is causing and what scientifically proven measures could be leveraged to reduce that.

That knowledge vacuum has triggered more intense spending on research. The Big Four gambling operators in the country have decided to step up their commitment and contribute 1% of their gross gaming yield on an annual basis, significantly increasing the money on hand that can go into research on matters such as the speed of slot spins, the maximum betting limits, the necessity for mandatory financial checks and limits, and so on.

However, this newfound interest in research has not really reached last year’s contributions. According to GambleAware, the average contribution during the quarter was £2,757.38 which was down 9% in terms of RET contributions compared to the same period during last FY’s first quarter. Notably, there were no contributions by the largest gambling companies during the quarter, GambleAware.

The organization also outlined that it welcomed the plans outlined by the Government’sGambling White Paper which seeks to introduce a statutory levy, that is mandatory contributions, that gambling businesses would be obligated to pay for research and treatment of gambling harm and gambling harm-related issues.

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