SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Flutter Entertainment has reiterated its stance as Europe’s most sustainably focused gambling group, guided by the corporate directives of its ‘Positive Impact Plan’.
The FTSE100 firm’s ESG achievements and directives were detailed to Brussels-based trade body, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), by Sue Albion, Group Director of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs.
“Built on the strong foundations laid by each of our divisions over the years, this new strategy leverages our global scale and positions us at the forefront of meaningful change,” Albion notified the EGBA,
The Positive Impact Plan is led by the three core pillars of – ‘helping customers to play well’, ‘empowering colleagues’ and ‘working with communities’.
Since 2021, Flutter has invested £45m to strengthen the safer gambling protections of its European portfolio of tier-one brands which includes Betfair, PokerStars, Sisal and Adjarabet.
Home market directives saw Flutter brands adopt a self-imposed £10 stake limit trial and further introduced a ban on credit card deposits in Ireland.
The first-of-kind initiatives adopted by the Positive Impact Plan see Flutter confident of achieving the headline aim of “75% of our active online customers globally using one or more of our Play Well tools, with over 50% using one or more tools by the end of 2026’.
Strengthening its sustainability focus, Flutter units performance is set to “safer gambling targets linked to bonus by division for all colleagues, implemented from 2022.”
The FTSE100 group has further launched new corporate governance directives to advance its diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”) strategy as a pan-European employer.
By 2023, Flutter leadership aims to measure and report on pay performance, progression, and retention across different diversity demographics.
Corporate inclusivity targets see Flutter seek to employ 40% of women in leadership roles by 2030 – reflective of communities in which the company works in.
DE&I goals are monitored and mentored by the Executive Committee of the ‘Global Advocacy Programme’ to champion diversity within the FTSE firm.
During 2021, the group’s community directives were led by the Cash4Clubs campaign, which raised over £4m for 1.600 amateur sports clubs, supporting 230,000 young people.
The Cash4Clubs campaign was further rewarded by Flutter’s full donation of £4.8m in COVID-19 business rates relief.
Further emergency relief was provided to international charity CARE to help its Ukraine conflict fund, in which Flutter contributed over £400,000.
Flutter continues to support sports charity Right To Play, launching the ‘Save Her Seat’ campaign, which aims to get 50,000 girls back into education post-COVID and have contributed over $50,000, saving over 1300 seats for girls in school.
Albion concluded; “We know these goals are ambitious, and we know we’ve got more to do, but we believe it’s only by stretching ourselves as a business that we can make a real difference to those around us.”
