Ladbrokes forms social responsibility committee

Ladbrokes are set to create a new social responsibility committee, which will have the purpose of helping their board to oversee the establishment of a socially responsible approach to providing betting and gaming to the bookmakers’ customers.

This announcement was first made by the bookmaker in February this year.

John Kelly, the Senior Independent Director, will chair the committee whilst Chairman Peter Erskine, Non-Executive Director Christine Hodgson and Chief Executive Richard Glynn will also be involved. The committee will meet a minimum of three times per year and will report to the board on the adherence to and development of responsible gaming policy across the business. In addition the committee will assess performance against other vital social responsibility targets.

Company experts will also be heavily involved and working alongside the remuneration committee they will develop key performance indicators. These, in turn, will be used to ensure that responsible gambling is reflected in executive remuneration.

Peter Erskine said of the announcement; “We have always placed responsible gambling and social responsibility at the heart of our business and the establishment of the committee formalises this approach and reinforces its importance to the future of the business.”

“It is clear that trust in bookmakers has been impacted by negative publicity and lobbying in the last year, and while we may believe that much of the concern is ill-founded, we accept that it is only by our actions that we will be able to win it back.”