Making change happen
Did you hear about the time that a leading LGBTQ+ magazine took on Russia with a little help from some bookies? Well, now that I’ve got your attention, let me tell you the story.
It was 2018 and Russia was hosting the FIFA World Cup. It was also the same year that the Attitude Magazine Foundation was set up to raise money for LGBTQ+ causes. Mindful of Russia’s record on LGBTQ+ rights (and human rights generally), Paddy Power ran a campaign called Rainbow Russians, where every time a Russian footballer scored a goal during the World Cup, Paddy Power would donate £10,000 to our Foundation.
Seventeen goals were scored by the Russian side over the course of the championship, which resulted in a whopping £170,000 for the Magazine Foundation, enabling its task of helping the LGBTQ+ community to
