Betfred makes significant donation to charity

Local children’s charity Jessie May has received a donation of £40,000 from World Championship title sponsor Betfred, to mark 40 years of snooker at the Crucible.
Jessie May, which provides hospice at home care for terminally ill children in Bristol, Bath, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, was chosen as World Snooker’s official charity partner for the 2016/17 season.

Further Donations

At the beginning of the World Championship tournament, held in Sheffield, Betfred pledged a donation of £200 for every century made during the 17-day event, to be rounded-up to £40,000 if the total hit 80 centuries. Although the target of 80 centuries wasn’t reached, Betfred head Fred Done generously rounded up the total anyway.
“The players may not have hit 80 centuries, but the snooker on the 40th anniversary of the Crucible has been magical and so that’s why I’ve decided to donate the £40,000 to Jessie May which does an amazing job and is a very worthy cause.” said Fred.

Lindsey Horton, Corporate Partnerships Officer for Jessie May, added: “This is such a wonderful donation from Betfred and we are thrilled and amazed by the generosity. The money will make a huge difference to the children and families we care for.”
The team members at Jessie May has been travelling all over the country to raise money at World Snooker tournaments throughout the season, so far an additional £40,000 has been raised with raffle tickets, bucket collections and generous donations from tournament supporters.

Added Publicity

As well as the donation, the partnership with World Snooker has resulted in some fantastic national publicity for the local charity.
“The response to having been named charity partner of World Snooker has been phenomenal, I don’t think we ever imagined how big it would be! Julian Withers, head of fundraising at Jessie May, said.
“The snooker players, commentators, and the whole team at World Snooker have really thrown their support behind Jessie May; wearing their Jessie May badges and talking about us in post-game interviews. They’ve also been showing a video about how Jessie May helps families and children to audiences at tournaments around the country. The Betfred donation really is the icing on the cake and we’re so grateful to Fred for pledging the money even though the original target wasn’t reached.”

About Betfred

Betfred is a UK-based bookmaker and is named after its co-founders Fred and Peter Done. It was first established as an independent shop in Ordsall, Salford, in 1967. Its turnover in 2004 was more than £3.5 billion, having risen from £550 million in 2003. As of February 2016, the company has 1,370 betting shops.

Its head office is in Birchwood, Warrington. Its CEO for two years until September 2016 was John Haddock, who began his career with the company as a regional manager in 1986. On his departure, chairman Fred Done took over the role of CEO.