Flutter Entertainment continues to maintain social responsibility and community engagement as key pillars of its sports strategy, heavily emphasising this in its latest partnership announcement.
The NYSE gambling group has extended its partnership with Leeds Rhinos Foundation, the charity programme of the English Super League rugby league club Leeds Rhinos – one of the most succesful teams in the tournament’s history.
The firm will increase its annual funding to the foundation from £25,000 to £36,000. This funding will be used to support the expansion of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s scope to include a new weight management programme, ‘Try Club’.
“We are incredibly grateful to Flutter for extending their partnership with us for another year and increasing their investment in our community health programmes,” said Dan Busfield, Head of Partnerships and Development at the Leeds Rhinos Foundation.
“Quite simply, these services would not be possible without their support.
“The additional funding means we can not only continue delivering our existing programmes to 120 people but also launch Try Club, providing even more people in Leeds with access to free, expert-led support to improve their health and make lasting lifestyle changes.”
New levels to sports partnerships
Sports betting partnerships and sponsorships have been put under a lot of pressure in the UK in recent years. This pressure led to Premier League clubs opting to voluntarily ban front-of-shirt betting sponsors from the 2026/27 season onwards.
Political opposition to the marketing deals has largely focused on football, but campaigners have called for betting sponsorships to be banned across other sports.
While Flutter’s arrangement with Leeds Rhinos is not a sponsorship deal, it is indicative of a wider trend which has seen operators incorporate social responsibility and community-facing initiatives into their work with British sports.
Flutter has been at the forefront of this. The company’s subsidiary Sky Bet is a long-time partner of the English Football League (EFL), and during the 2025/26 season it used this visibility to help promote the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
The company’s Paddy Power brand – an omnichannel sportsbook with an extensive presence across the UK and Ireland – has also helped promote Prostate Cancer UK during the PDC World Darts Championship (WDC) for two years running.
In the case of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation, the partnership has some extra significance for Flutter as the company maintains a technology HQ in the West Yorkshire city, with over 1,700 staff employed by the Irish-American company in the local area.
Flutter’s partnership with the Foundation came about via Sky Bet’s deal with the NIC Leeds Rhinos Netball team, with the charity reaching out to Flutter regarding potential collaborations.
The group has set itself the goal of positively impacting the lives of over 10 million people across various local communities via its ‘Do More’ programme – under which the abovementioned activities are coordinated.
Paul McCormick, Chief Technology Officer at Flutter International, and senior business sponsor for charity initiatives at its Leeds office, said: “We’re proud to continue our partnership with Leeds Rhinos Foundation and support the incredible work they do within local communities.
“As the home of Flutter’s largest UK offices, Leeds is a city that is incredibly important to our business and our colleagues. Supporting programmes that make a tangible difference to people’s lives in the communities where our teams live and work is a key part of our commitment to creating positive impact locally.”
