Former bosses at online bingo company Tombola made a £74.3m charity donation before it was acquired by betting giant Flutter Entertainment, new accounts show.
The accounts for the Sunderland-based firm show the huge charity donation precipitated a £46.5m operating loss in 2022. The documents, filed at Companies House, only say the sum was paid to "a number of local charities and other institutions" with both Tombola and Flutter not wishing to elaborate further when asked by BusinessLive.
The move follows £12m of donations reported in the previous financial year. Tombola, which is known for its sponsorship of ITV's I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, has historically supported charities but this latest amount is by far the largest.
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The firm creates and develops bingo software and games from its North East head office and also has bases in Copenhagen, Gibraltar, Milan and Madrid. It was founded in 2006 by Philip Cronin and has seen rapid growth since, now being regarded as the largest online bingo website in Europe with a workforce of 777 people.
Tombola was sold to Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment in November 2021, in a £402m cash deal. At the time, Flutter boasted of Tombola's 400,000 monthly average players.
Now, accounts for the year to the end of April 2022 show turnover fell slightly from £164.2m to £162.4m while an operating profit of £25.4m in 2021 swung to a £46.6m loss. Exceptional items totalling £78.9m include the record charity donation as well as employee bonuses.
Writing in a review accompanying the accounts, Tombola's chief operating officer James Beard said the firm - which derives most of its income from the UK, and some from Spain and Italy - was looking to offer its games to people in the Republic of Ireland. He also said the company continued to benefit from the positive impact of work-from-home restrictions during the pandemic - which had driven stakes and turnover.
Tombola is said to have been the first major UK focused bingo operator to introduce mandatory staking and deposit limits - a move that Flutter credits with its success in building its player base.
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