Grainne Hurst

2020 has been an unpredictable year for everyone, and at Entain we have met the challenges head-on. We’ve relaunched with a new brand, a new leadership, a new vision and a new purpose. It is very simple; we aim to revolutionise gambling to create the most exciting and trusted entertainment for every customer.

Over the past year our staff have powered through, and we’re proud that every single colleague has continued to work hard to make sure that, at Entain, safer gambling is gambling. We were crowned Safer Gambling Operator of the Year at the EGR Awards, and this reminds us that we’re on the right path.

However, we don’t want to be leisurely strolling down that path, we want to be leading the way, we want to be the pioneers. 2021 is the year that will see us take the foundations we’ve laid in safer gambling and build on them the Entain way.

We’ve set the first cornerstones in the form of our new Sustainability Charter. We have long held the view that the most sustainable business in our industry will be the most successful business in our industry, which is why we’ve made the commitment to focus only on regulated markets. By the end of 2023 we will only operate in regulated markets – closing those that are not on the path to regulation.

Our focus is to ensure that all of our revenue comes from properly regulated markets and builds on safer gambling being at the heart of what we do.

If 2020 has taught us anything it is that technology has no limits. Ensuring the highest possible levels of player safety is the best way of guaranteeing our long-term success, and so in November we launched our Advanced Responsibility & Care (ARC) programme.

We have developed our in-house capabilities to allow our data scientists to analyse player behaviour in a new way. From this we will be able to create predictive models which will enable real time monitoring tools to enable early interventions.

To compliment this, we’re also partnering up with Future Anthem and Mindway AI, which will see us pioneer world-leading harm minimisation solutions. We’re teched up and ready to go to lead the industry on the path to safer gambling.

We are proud to contribute to the wider communities in which we operate, which is why we have launched the Entain Foundation. We have committed to donating £100 million over the next five years, including our new Pitching In programme that supports grassroots sports and sports people.

Sport is key to our industry, which is why we’re investing in its sustainability. Our support of the Trident leagues, which was announced earlier this year, will not only see financial investment for local community football clubs but also a personal one in the form of volunteers. This is vital, particularly in the current climate, which has seen an unprecedented impact on these clubs.

Our partnership with SportsAid has also seen us support nearly 100 athletes so far and more to follow as we enter the third year of our partnership. We are proud to be investing in sport around the world and the part that we have played in securing its future.

The Entain Group is determined to be a pioneer in ensuring and maintaining customer wellbeing, which is at the heart of the sustainable and responsible industry we all want to see. Long-term success and sustainability, though, can only be embedded if similar measures are adopted across the industry. We are proud of the work we are doing at Entain in putting the customer at the centre of our activities.

Grainne Hurst is Director of Corporate Affairs at Entain