As one of the largest suppliers of gambling products around the world, Playtech is at the forefront of bringing together the gambling industry with academics, policymakers and charity experts.
In 2020, Playtech announced its Healthy Online Living Programme, a commitment to support programmes and partnerships designed to reduce gambling-related harm and promote positive digital wellbeing and health outcomes. In doing so, Playtech formally announced and committed £5 million over five years in five areas of focus, to support partnerships and initiatives that can make a positive difference at the intersection of gambling, online life and mental health.
Our Global Community Investment programme is designed to support causes that are pertinent in the local markets, where we operate. Around the world, Playtech supports and encourages employees to contribute their time, skills, money, and most importantly, their passion to make a positive social impact in their communities. By building a strong and enduring network with local charities and social enterprises, Playtech explores how to positively contribute to societal challenges.
In 2024, Playtech expanded its commitment to preventing gambling-related financial harm (GRFH) through a strategic partnership with Kindbridge Research Institute in the US. Building on the successful GRFH programme originally developed by GamCare in the UK, this initiative brings proven harm prevention strategies to the US market through a comprehensive multi-sector approach.
The project unites academics, financial service providers and industry experts to develop targeted solutions for the US context. The programme aims to deliver targeted workshops to the financial services sector sharing practical tools to create lasting change and support individuals affected by GRFH. This will include enhancing financial literacy and management, improving identification and support for individuals at risk of GRFH, and the development of new solutions in the financial services sector.
The Gambling Recovery Information Network (‘GRIN’) Initiative brings together the experience of Betknowmore UK and the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health (‘MACGH’) to address gambling-related harms in the United States.
The initiative will introduce and adapt Betknowmore’s Peer Aid service to the US and provide Peer Support to people who can benefit from the insights of people with lived experience of gambling harm. With the support of the MACGH, GRIN will also help inform the development of gambling policy and gambling support and treatment services and seek to improve practices throughout the gambling sector.
The Dnipro Geriatric House, home to over 600 elderly residents with physical and mental disabilities, became rundown after decades of neglect. With no major maintenance work since the 1970s, the facility’s deteriorating infrastructure was compromising the quality of life for its vulnerable residents. Crumbling walls, broken windows, and failing bathrooms created increasingly challenging living conditions.
In 2024, Playtech partnered with the charitable foundation “Relief Ship” to transform this care home, one of Ukraine’s largest residential homes for elderly people. The reconstruction project delivered substantial improvements, including replacement of all windows throughout the building, creating a warmer, more comfortable living environment with enhanced energy efficiency. The project also included a full renovation of bathroom facilities, enhancing safety measures essential for residents with mobility challenges.
Understanding the importance of keeping residents connected, Playtech established a “Google and Relax Room” within the care home, equipped with donated laptops and televisions where residents can connect with loved ones and engage in recreational activities. During the holiday season, employees from the Ukraine office organised a Christmas celebration, including a Secret Santa initiative where employees personally purchased gifts for each resident.
In December 2024, Playtech demonstrated its ongoing commitment to communities in Ukraine by funding the “Inclusivity Route” project in Rivne. With local council support, this project will focus on installing ramps and lowering high curbs to benefit over 13,000 people living with physical disabilities, reflecting Playtech’s dedication to creating more inclusive communities.
In 2024, Playtech expanded its Community Investment programme to Romania, where our team made remarkable progress, successfully launching and delivering various community initiatives focusing on elderly care, emergency response and animal welfare.
The team partnered with the Never Alone Association to tackle the societal challenge of over 450,000 elderly people in urban Romania experiencing severe isolation. Employees organised regular home visits, weekly phone check-ins and social activities for seniors in Bucharest, helping combat isolation and improve their quality of life.
When devastating floods struck Galati and Vaslui counties in September, our Romanian team demonstrated remarkable community spirit by initiating a rapid emergency response. Playtech volunteers travelled to Costache Negri Kommune with protective gear to assist with restoration efforts. Colleagues also organised a donation campaign, collecting 18 boxes of essential supplies, including clothing and necessities for affected families.
Another partnership was established with Kind Souls Association to support local animal welfare initiatives through funding and employee volunteering. Employees helped organise adoption events that funded veterinary care, including essential medical equipment. For a first-year community investment programme, our Romanian team demonstrated outstanding commitment to community support. They successfully balanced both emergency response and long-term social programmes, establishing a strong foundation for continued community investment in Romania.
The war in Ukraine had an unprecedented impact on the lives of our employees and country. During the year, Playtech provided a wide range of support to its employees as well as charities delivering humanitarian aid to communities across the country. From the inception of the war in early 2022, the Company rapidly mobilised its skills, community budgets, assets and technology to support employees, their families and local communities. Across the Group, Playtech donated over €250,000 to eight different humanitarian organisations, which delivered lifesaving medical equipment and supplies, essential items and psychological support to people across the country. Over 300 employees from 14 different countries volunteered to support their Ukrainian colleagues. Support included establishing a 24/7 hotline group chat, maintaining daily contact with designated employees and co-ordinating the transportation and accommodation outside of Ukraine.
In 2020, Playtech partnered with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) to launch the £3 million COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund. The fund provided both immediate and long-term support to charities, social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations that were dedicated to delivering mental health services.
The fund has awarded 56 grants to organisations in 10 different locations including: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Gibraltar, IOM, Italy, Latvia, Philippines, UK and US. These grants supported 18 different causes, with the top 4 causes being frontline workers (23%), mental health patients (23%), domestic violence (10%) and at-risk youth (10%). So far, the fund has collectively reached over 24,000 people directly and over 1.4 million people indirectly.
One project example is Crisis Text Line, Inc., a US non-profit organisation dedicated to providing support to people in crisis through text conversations. In 2020, it saw a 19% increase in volume compared to 2019, and 19% of its US texters self-identified as frontline workers. This project helped cover the costs associated with supporting these texters in crisis and a total of 4,226 people directly benefited from this funding.
In 2022, Playtech Cyprus continued its partnership with Generation for Change CY, an organisation committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalised communities, including refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Individuals from these communities experience significant societal challenges including cultural differences and understanding new traditions. The initiatives delivered included the Let’s Play Together Intercultural 3×3 Basketball Tournament, a Humanitarian Aid Programme and IT donations. The organisation Generation for Change CY and 22 Playtech employees worked together throughout the year to deliver events and initiatives, all focusing on different aspects of inclusion. This initiative brought together more than 76 players from 21 different countries.
The Humanitarian Aid Programme resulted in the collection of a large range of products including food, hygiene essentials, clothes, bedding and kitchen utensils. These collections directly helped approximately 240 households around Cyprus. This initiative highlighted the importance of equality and inclusion for all, as no one should be without the necessities.
Playtech donated five laptops in support of Generation for Change CY’s educational and skills development programmes. The laptops helped provide IT skills courses to 13 participants to develop their digital literacy.
Snaitech, through the iZilove Foundation, shares with Special Olympics Italia two overarching aims within a program of social responsibility: increasing the public’s awareness on the matter of intellectual disabilities through promotional campaigns throughout Italy and sharing the same values (integration, participation and enthusiasm) as its corporate mission.
The first step in this journey together was taken in February 2017, when Snaitech opened its fund-raising campaign for Italian athletes in tandem with the National Winter Games of Bormio and launched, using its own communication means, the “#IoAdottoUnCampione”. Since then, Snaitech continued its efforts to support Special Olympics Italia towards the true meaning of the term “inclusion”.
In 2023, iZilove Foundation supported Special Olympics Italy at Play The Games, the program of sports events scheduled in several Italian regions that involved as many as 5,879 Athletes in 19 sports disciplines. It also supported the non-profit organization at the World Summer Games in Berlin, sustaining the “Adopt a Champion” fundraising campaign and participating with a team of volunteers alongside Athletes during competitions.
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