Flutter CEO Argues Against Anti-Gambling Campaigns Use of New Levy Funds

Flutter Entertainment, the world’s biggest listed gambling group and owner of Paddy Power, has expressed concerns that funds from a new statutory levy on operators could be used by campaigners to stop gambling in general. The Flutter CEO said that campaigners had already had the opportunity to make their cases and that people must be careful not to reproduce the same arguments.

Flutter CEO Peter Jackson Advocates Focused Distribution of Addiction Funds

In a statement for the Financial Times, Flutter’s CEO Peter Jackson expressed his desire to allocate the funds for addiction research, treatment, and education in a focused and limited manner. He also voiced his concern over the possibility of these funds being used by anti-gambling campaigns.

According to Jackson, who played a role in getting competing operators to adopt a voluntary contributions system in 2019, it is disappointing that campaigners doubt the industry’s influence over fund distribution. Jackson emphasized that no one requests to review and approve reports. He stated that once the industry donates the money, it gets utilized without any conditions or control. 

Flutter has already introduced a number of measures to promote responsible gambling, including a maximum slot limit of £10 ($13) per spin since 2021 and a commitment to contribute 1% of its yearly revenue to gambling research, education, and treatment. Introducing such measures has already cost the company £150 million ($188 million) worth of revenue from its UK business.

Flutter Supports Gambling Act Review but Anticipates Revenue Impact

The UK government’s white paper on gambling proposes measures that could result in an incremental revenue hit of between £50 million ($62.8 million) and £100 million ($125.6 million) for the industry. Flutter has estimated that changes already introduced and those proposed in the white paper will result in a cumulative revenue impact of between £200 million ($251.2 million) and £250 million ($314 million) of annual UK revenue. The company expects the changes to take effect from some point in 2024, with no incremental impact in 2023.

Flutter has said that it supports a long-awaited gambling act review in the UK and wants to take a leadership role in responsible betting and gaming. Flutter already has a well-developed and extensive player protection framework that identifies various at-risk player behaviors through a range of markers of risk and expects the customer information to be assessed within this existing framework.

On the other hand, Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, has said that it will provide a detailed response to the white paper proposals as soon as possible.