Rayleigh and Wickford’s MP Mark Francois recently visited his local Ladbrokes shop in Wickford High Street to learn more about the betting and gaming industry, the issues affecting the sector and its employees, and to take part in a charity bet for “Help for Heroes”.
During his visit, Mark was shown the wide variety of betting and gaming activities available, met the staff and customers and asked questions about responsible gambling procedures and the company’s community and charitable work.
At the end of the visit, Mark was given a free £50 charity bet which was placed on a horse named ‘Lookin at Lucky’ to win the Churchill Downs Classic. With odds of 5/1, the bet would have won £300 for “Help for Heroes”, but unfortunately the horse came in fourth.
However, given that this is such a good cause, Ladbrokes kindly offered to honour the bet and provided a cheque for £50 for “Help for Heroes” which Mark has subsequently passed on.
Mark Francois commented:
""It was extremely interesting to visit one of the Ladbrokes shops within my constituency to see how everything actually works. MPs regularly make decisions that impact upon this industry and its many jobs, so it is important that our judgements are well informed and based on factual information.
I am particularly grateful to Ladbrokes for offering me the free charity bet and am delighted that they have honoured the bet in favour of “Help for Heroes” even though my horse came in fourth.”
Richard Royal, Head of Public Affairs at Ladbrokes said:
“It is important that the betting and gaming industry maintains an open and constructive dialogue with decision makers at all levels of government. We offer a lot of fun activities that many people enjoy but it is easy to forget that the industry also supports tens of thousands of jobs throughout the UK and makes a massive contribution to the economy.”