GVC establishes foundation to coordinate CSR efforts

GVC Holdings has today (30 September) launched the GVC Foundation, a new body that will execute its global corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, as well as announcing a host of new CSR projects.

The foundation will take charge of the operator’s existing CSR projects, including its £2m community fund, and manage its collaborations with various bodies. These include its research project with the Division on Addiction of Cambridge Health Alliance, youth outreach work with EPIC Risk Management and its partnership with addiction treatment provider Gordon Moody.

Going forward, the GVC Foundation will have four key areas of focus. It will work on projects relating to responsible gambling, sports integrity and gambling research, education and treatment, as well as supporting grassroots men’s, women and disability sport.

Men’s health, with a particular focus on mental health, will be another area of focus, as will projects with a clear link to local communities around the operator’s major office locations.

“GVC is determined to spearhead the gambling industry’s approach to CSR initiatives, particularly with regard to responsible gambling and sports integrity-related projects,” Virginia McDowell, chair of GVC’s CSR Committee, said. “The launch of The GVC Foundation is a clear sign of this commitment, consolidating GVC’s hard work in this area over the last few years.”

The foundation’s launch has been followed by news of four projects it will work on. It has partnered Italian football club Inter Milan to promote participation in women’s football. This initiative will be backed by a national media campaign, supported by sports daily Gazzetta hello Sport, and will see a football-related talent show for women developed.

The GVC Foundation has also become a bronze donor to the Fund to Support Research on Sports Wagering, a new source of funding for research into public health launched in the wake of legal sports betting.

It has also launched the German Sports Integrity Forum alongside German Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and 1.FC Köln and sporting integrity platform the Play Fair Code. The forum aims to raise awareness of sporting integrity in German-speaking countries.

Finally, the GVC Foundation has entered into a partnership with the Professional Players Federation, the umbrella organisation for the UK’s professional sportspersons. It will help fund anti-match fixing education programmes across sports such as football, cricket, rugby union and snooker.

“We are delighted to have partnered with sports clubs, gambling researchers and athletes in a number of our key jurisdictions, including Germany, the UK, Italy and the US,” GVC director of regulatory affairs and GVC Foundation trustee Martin Lycka said.

“The range of the new initiatives that we are announcing today, and the quality of the partnerships that we have entered, is a great endorsement of our overall CSR strategy, and there is plenty more to come.”