UK’s BGC Donates $40K to Ex-Convict Employment Initiative Tempus Novo

The United Kingdom’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has extended support to Tempus Novo, a charity organization supporting prisoners wishing to return to work. The initiative has also been supported by Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme Labour MP Lee Pitcher, who described the BGC’s support for the organization’s crucial work as “massively important.”

A World-Leading Approach to Rehabilitation

Tempus Novo, meaning New Time in Latin, is an organization that, true to its name, seeks to help prisoners open a new chapter in their lives and return to work after they serve their sentences. The organization recognizes the employment difficulties many former convicts face and is dedicated to helping them rebuild their lives.

Securing stability for former prisoners is also important because some might otherwise return to crime if they are unable to find jobs. According to the charity, its mission is to change lives and ensure that rehabilitation works.

The BGC has recognized the organization’s important work, with members agreeing to provide GBP 30,000 (roughly $40K) to the charity.

For context, the donation is part of a total of GBP 450,000 that BGC members have generated from the 2025 Britannia Stakes charity race at Royal Ascot. Other grant recipients include Prostate Cancer UK, Missing People, and three other charities.

The Funding Will Help Tempus Novo Drive Tangible Impact

Tempus Novo’s chief executive officer, Steve Freer, has commented on the matter, thanking the BGC for providing his team with the funding it needs to make a change. With the additional money, the charity will be able to make “tangible, lasting impact” and “drive transformational change in the criminal justice system.”

Freer emphasized that this is critical work since having these opportunities will prevent many from returning to crime.

Thanks to this [BGC’s] support, we’re seeing lives changed, futures rebuilt, and a real shift in how rehabilitation can work in practice.

Steve Freer, CEO, Tempus Novo

As mentioned, the initiative also received the support of Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme Labour MP Lee Pitcher. Pitcher visited HMP Hatfield to personally witness Tempus Novo’s efforts. Impressed with their mission, he said:

It is massively important that organisations like Tempus Novo have that support from organisations like the BGC. It helps give people hope and it starts to change lives and everybody deserves that second chance.

Axholme Labour MP Lee Pitcher

For further context, Tempus Novo, which is the brainchild of two serving senior prison officers at HMP Leeds, works with industry-leading businesses, helping them to fill their vacancies with appropriate, hardworking and dedicated ex-convicts seeking to “break the cycle of crime.”

The organization offers a minimum of 12 months of support to both employees and their employers.

In August, the BGC probed the cultural importance of gambling in the UK.