Flutter Opens Centre of Excellence Focused on Responsible Gambling

Flutter Entertainment has opened a £1.5 million Centre of Excellence at its UK headquarters in Leeds, West Yorkshire, focusing on responsible gambling, and marking the latest commitment to a city which is becoming a growing gambling industry hub.

The base is intended to be a centre for collaboration, learning and experimentation with regards to responsible gambling and customer protection. The hub will host Flutter’s customer safety team, consisting of more than 450 staff.

This will be located within Flutter’s existing base in Leeds, which is primarily occupied by staff of its Sky Bet brand.

Responsible gambling tools target

Flutter has set a target of having 75% of its customer base using responsible gambling tools by 2030. According to Flutter, the rate is currently at 60%. Aside from Sky Bet, Flutter also owns Paddy Power, Betfair and PokerStars. This week, Flutter UKI is set to host the Ethical Gambling Forum, a conference focused on overcoming the gambling sector's ethical dilemmas.

Richard Clarke, Flutter’s Managing Director of Customer Product, explained:

“We’re incredibly proud to be hosting the Ethical Gambling Forum here in Leeds and believe it’s testimony to our industry leading position on customer safety.

“Over the last year we’ve rebuilt our systems from the ground up, and incorporated AI modelling to help with our monitoring of risk behaviours. It is our ambition to originate, develop and ultimately set a standard in data-backed customer safety for the industry, right here from the heart of Leeds.”

Problem gambling rate rising

Responsible gambling schemes are becoming increasingly important in Great Britain in particular, with the problem gambling rate increasing in recent years. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), published by regulator the Gambling Commission, showed a 2.7% problem gambling rate for 2024.

That rate, based on 19,714 respondents, was up from 2.5% in the original GSGB survey covering 2023. The two GSGBs have showed higher problem gambling rates than previous surveys, which used different methodologies.

The Commission’s previous quarterly telephone survey showed that in the year to December 2022, a total of 0.2% of 4,000 respondents classed as problem gamblers.

Flutter’s responsibility focus

Flutter has invested in several responsible gambling schemes in recent years. In 2024, the operator pledged £100 million to safer gambling capabilities globally, with £65 million of that total being invested in the UK and Ireland. Flutter also operates FanDuel, the brand with the highest market share in online sports betting in the US.

Flutter also founded Alpha Hub in 2018, a technology division focused on startup activity, which works with startups, with integrity and community programmes forming part of its work.

For 2024, Flutter increased its overall investment in research and education by 38% to $139 million (£103 million).

Leeds’ growing appeal

While Sky Bet has been based in Leeds since 2010, the city has become an increasingly popular destination for UK operators. Last October, Evoke, owner of William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, opened a new office in the city’s West Village for more than 750 staff across brand and creative, finance, broadcast, retail, trading, product, technology, compliance, AML and people teams.

This followed LeoVegas Group’s decision to open a city centre office in Leeds, which was announced in April 2025, to support the ongoing developments of its LeoVegas and BetMGM brands. LeoVegas Group was set to occupy the ground and lower ground floors of Tailor’s Corner, totalling 5,000 sq. ft.