BETTING AND GAMING COUNCIL PROUD TO SPONSOR LEICESTER RACECOURSE VETERANS’ RACEDAY, RAISING VITAL FUNDS FOR MILITARY CHARITIES

STANDARDS body the Betting and Gaming Council is proud to once again sponsor Leicester Racecourse’s Veterans’ Raceday, raising vital funds for a host of military charities.

It is the third consecutive year the BGC has supported Veterans’ Raceday, with the standards body once more sponsoring the main race, the BGC Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Handicap Chase.

The third annual Leicester Racecourse Veterans’ Raceday will be held today (MAR 7), with veterans the guests of honour for a thrilling day of racing.

The BGC’s sponsorship of this fantastic Raceday builds on a long history of celebrating veterans and supporting military charities.

Our members have gifted nearly £750,000 to Armed Forces charities over recent years, including The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, SAS Regimental Association, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity and the RAF Benevolent Fund after our members either handed profits or made donations following the flagship Britannia Stakes race held at Royal Ascot.

Across the BGC, including bookmakers on hard-pressed high streets, casinos in the leisure and tourism sector and global tech powerhouses in online gaming, our members have raised more than £6 million for good causes.

BGC CEO Grainne Hurst, said: “On behalf of everyone at the BGC, and all our members, I’m enormously proud to once again lend our support to this excellent event for another year.

“Veterans’ Raceday provides not only a fantastic day out for our cherished veterans, but also raises vital funds to support those in the veteran community who need additional support.

“The BGC is incredibly proud to have raised such significant funds for a host of exemplary charities, which do such amazing work for those that served this nation with such distinction.

“They truly are the best of British, so we’re delighted to offer this salute to veterans.”

The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough, also known as Stanford Hall, is a state of the art Ministry of Defence clinical rehabilitation facility providing expert care and support for wounded, injured and sick Armed Forces personnel.

Richard Clowes, Leicester Racecourse Director, added: “This is the third year the BGC have supported our Veterans Day and the Racecourse is very grateful.

“We are fortunate within Leicestershire and Rutland to have stationed both the Royal Anglians close to Oakham and the Defence Animal Training Regiment with their dogs and horses at Melton Mowbray.

“Both have races named after them. We are also major recruiting areas for the Coldstream Guards and Royal Lancers and hope that we will welcome many veterans from those two regiments.”

Last year, through sponsorship, media rights and the levy, BGC members contributed around £350m to British horseracing.

This is part of a wider economic contribution our members make to the nation, supporting 109,000 jobs, generating £6.8bn for the economy while raising £4bn in taxes.

The Betting and Gaming Council is the standards body representing over 90 per cent of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK, including bookmakers, casinos and online betting.

Each month in Britain around 22.5m adults have a bet and the most recent NHS Health Survey for England estimated that 0.4 per cent of the adult population are problem gamblers.