Last week, Flutter’s UK&I brands – Betfair, Paddy Power & Sky Betting & Gaming – took in well over £100m in stakes, executing close to 22m bets across the Royal Ascot Festival.
A thrilling week saw Frankie Dettori win his ninth Gold Cup with an impressive 3.5m bets placed with Flutter’s UK&I brands on his rides across the Festival. While history was made with Hollie Doyle winning the King's Stand Stakes, becoming the first female jockey to win a Group 1 race at the racecourse.
Rank outsider Khadeem cost Flutter’s brands over £2m and was our biggest loser of the week, winning the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at 80/1, the highest-priced winner of a Group 1 sprint.
There were more surprises to follow, with Valiant Force beating the odds when she won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at 150/1, matching the biggest SP return at Royal Ascot and the biggest return in a British or Irish Group race - 17 of the 35 winners had double-figure odds over the course of the event. Meanwhile, King Charles-owned Desert Hero topped off the weekend with a famous win.
The jockeys weren't the only winners, as a host of UK charities – including SportsAid, whose Patron is Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales; the Holocaust Educational Trust; the Cystic Fibrosis Trust; SAS Regimental Association (SASRA); and Together for Looked After Children – received £277,000 from the Britannia Stakes race after Hayley Turner rode Docklands to victory. The donation came from Flutter's UK&I brands and other Betting & Gaming Council (BGC) members - who honoured a pledge to make a sizeable donation considering the outcome of the race.
Ian Brown, Chief Executive of Flutter UK&I, said: “We are incredibly proud to support the BGC’s great initiative and to make sure that charity is the real winner from the Britannia Stakes. Royal Ascot is such an important fixture in Britain’s sporting calendar, and we hope this donation can make a tangible difference for the charities involved."
BGC members, including Flutter, have now raised just under £6m for charity through the Britannia Stakes and virtual Grand National since the BGC was formed in November 2019.
This initiative demonstrates how Flutter is driving real change, aligning with the Do More pillar of Flutter's Positive Impact Plan, looking to improve the lives of 10m people using the power of sport and play by the end of 2030.
For more information, please contact corporatemedia@flutter.com.
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