Stella David

Entain launched its Global Foundation in September 2019 to coordinate and support the Group’s  CSR initiatives, objectives and donations around the world. Through the Foundation we are committed to donating £100m over the next five years including our new Pitching In programme that supports grass roots sports and sports people.

The Foundation is initially focusing on four key areas:

• Responsible gambling, sports integrity and gambling regulation research, education and treatment;
• Grass roots, women’s and disability sport;
• Men’s health, with a particular focus on mental health; and
• Projects with a clear link to the local community in Entain’s major office locations.

The Foundation has also taken on responsibility for administering the Group’s existing CSR projects, including  its £2 million community fund as well as  collaborations with SportsAid, EPIC Risk Management, Gordon Moody, the US National Council on Problem Gambling and the Division on Addiction of Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital.

The Foundation supports a variety of good causes, including:

• Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health alliance, Harvard Medical School
  Entain is investing $5.5 million in a  5-year, research project with the Division on Addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. The objective of the project is to better increase our understanding  problem gambling, and thereby find ways to prevent its development where possible and find more effective approaches to treatment.
• Pitching In grassroots sport investment fund
  Pitching In has launched at a time when football clubs and sporting organisations are facing the unprecedented impact on their finances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in September 2020  the multi-million-pound, multi-year, investment programme kicked-off  with a flagship partnership with The Isthmian, Northern Premier and Southern Leagues – collectively known as The Trident Leagues – which make-up levels seven and eight of the English football league pyramid.
  
  
• SportsAid
  Through our multi-year strategic partnership with SportsAid, the charity which supports aspiring athletes, and part of our Pitching In investment programme, Entain provides British athletes with financial support, recognition and personal development opportunities. Each athlete receives an annual award which contributes towards costs such as travel, accommodation and equipment. Through the partnership, Entain is helping 50 up-and-coming sports stars across the country each year.

• Inter Milan Football Club – promoting participation in women’s football
  The Entain Foundation has launched a collaboration with Inter Milan Football Club to promote participation in women’s football in Italy. Backed by a national media campaign, partnered with  Gazzetta dello Sport, the project is developing a football-related talent show for aspiring female footballers.

• US Fund to Support Research on Sports Wagering
  The Foundation has become a Bronze Donor to the Fund to Support Research on Sports Wagering, which was recently launched by the US National Center for Responsible Gaming. The objective of this project, which is first of its kind in the US, is to competitively award researchers at top tier institutions with the resources needed to uncover novel insights into what the introduction of legalised, regulated sports betting means for public health.

• German Sports Integrity Forum
  Together with German Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and 1.FC Koeln, and the sports integrity platform, the Play Fair Code, the Entain Foundation recently launched the German Sports Integrity Forum. The aim of the Forum is to raise further awareness of sports integrity programmes in Germany and other German speaking countries.

• Professional Players Federation
  The Foundation has entered into a partnership with the Professional Players Federation (the “PPF”), the national organisation for the professional player associations in the UK, to fund its anti-match-fixing player education programmes. The partnership enables the PPF to support the development and delivery of online learning and face-to-face education to hundreds of sportspeople in sports such as football, cricket, rugby union, golf, darts and snooker.