The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has raised over £15,000 for good causes as part of its annual Grand National charity betting initiative.
Over 50 parliamentarians placed a charity bet on Saturday’s Grand National, with the UK’s biggest betting operators handing over all winnings to the MP’s charity of choice.
The eventual winner was 7/1 favourite I am Maximus, ridden by Paul Townend, owned by JP McManus and trained by the legendary Willie Mullins. The Grand National win for a Mullins trained horse comes nine years after Hedge Hunter romped home in 2015.
The parliamentarians who backed the winner were Christian Wakeford MP, Maria Caulfield MP, Justin Tomlinson MP, Greg Smith MP, Peter Aldous MP, Preet Gill MP and Liam Kerr MSP.
While Bob Blackman MP had a winner with an each way bet by backing Ain’t That A Shame which came in sixth.
Some of the winning good causes included Sir Jackie Stewart’s Race for Dementia, Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare and The Fed – social care charity for the Greater Manchester Jewish Community.
Other MPs who took part included Sir Alok Sharma, Dame Caroline Nokes and Scotland Minister John Lamont.
Shadow Gambling Minister Stephanie Peacock MP also took part alongside Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey MP.
During visits, MPs heard from staff about the range of safer gambling measures available to customers in bookmakers.
However, every nominated charity will receive at least £250 after BGC members including William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddy Power and Betfred pledged to support charities even if MPs horses didn’t win.
These donations, combined with the winners, raised a total of £15,115.
BGC members – large and small – have raised more than £6 million for good causes since its formation in 2019.
Michael Dugher, chief executive of the BGC, said: “600 million people from all over the world tuned in to watch one of the best Grand Nationals ever, including millions in the UK on ITV. An estimated 12 million people in the UK – roughly a third of adults – enjoyed a bet on the National showing once again that for millions of us having a flutter is part of our great British culture.
“I want to pay tribute to all the thousands of people who work in betting shops to help support hard-pressed high streets and local economies. I would like to thank all those MPs who took part for supporting so many fantastic good causes and for taking the time to visit constituents working in betting shops. We had more MPs than ever before, from right across the political divide, ministers and shadow ministers, supporting the BGC and supporting the Grand National. I would like to thank all of our members for once again supporting the initiative.”
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