Kindred Group’s online casino brand 32Red has extended its partnership with Derby county football club’s Community Trust, and its Team Talk programme, for another year.
The partnership will enable a new research project in collaboration with the University of Derby, to understand the effectiveness of Team Talk in light of the challenges presented by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and ensuing lockdowns.
Team Talk is a men’s mental health initiative designed to get men talking about their state of mind. The year-long research project will be led by Professor David Best, in order to examine the effectiveness of Team Talk during the pandemic.
A variety of interviews and surveys will be conducted with participants in the Team Talk programme, and the research will be presented in a report at the end of 2021.
“The renewed investment means Derby County Community Trust can continue some of the fantastic work and results we saw from the first year of our partnership.” said Neil Banbury, UK general manager for Kindred Group.
“To be able to work in partnership with University of Derby to develop a robust research and evaluation project that assesses the impact of the programme on individual and community well-being will be very interesting.”
Simon Carnall, head of community at Derby County Community Trust added: “Following a successful first year, we are delighted that 32Red has recommitted to this project. The renewal of our partnership means we can now expand the programme and reach many more men with mental health problems across the community over the coming year.”
In October, Kindred published results showing record gross revenue for the third quarter of 2020, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. The figures showed gross winnings revenue up 24% year-on-year to a record £280m.
In addition to its work on mental health through Team Talk, the operator also launched a drive to reduce its environmental impact this year, vowing to cut business travel by almost a third after aligning its energy targets with the Paris Agreement on climate change. Its ambition is to operate on 100% renewable energy by 2023.
