Kindred Group asserts that it remains “dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero,” despite its share from harmful gambling increasing to four per cent during 2021’s fourth quarter.
In February last year, the gambling group started to communicate its commitment to contribute to a sustainable industry across all markets, with its share of gross winnings revenue from high-risk players coming in at 3.9 per cent, 4.3 per cent, and 3.3 per cent in Q1, Q2 and Q3, respectively.
This quarter-on-quarter increase, says Kindred, is “based on different factors,” such as, an historic rise in high-risk gambling during the time frame, a holiday season which it notes “can be a sensitive time for some people,” as well as a cessation of all service in the Dutch market.
“Despite the share of revenue from harmful gambling increasing this quarter we remain dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero,” stated Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred Group.
“While we are not pleased that the trend remains flat over the last year, we have known from the beginning that we won’t solve this overnight, and we know there is still work to do.
“We have committed ourselves to this ambition and we will continue to work towards reaching zero per cent revenue from harmful gambling.”
The company says that this latest report highlights “the necessity to focus on earlier interventions,” which it adds can be automated for the lower risk group of customers as well as being “important to disrupt the behavioural development”.
”In line with our roadmap, we look forward to even more targeted deliveries planned for 2022. While 2021 has been focused on research initiatives and have better data driven understanding of player dynamics, we will in 2022 continue the work to increase our capacity to effectively engage better and faster with detected customers,” Tjärnström continued.
“Besides additional self-control tools and optimised customer communication, will we launch automated interventions for lower risk groups.”
In the UK market, data for 2021 highlights that the firm’s revenue derived from high-risk behaviour in the region fell at a rate of 16 per cent.
In Q1 of 2021, 5.5 per cent of Kindred Group’s UK revenue was derived from high-risk players showing signs of harmful gambling, a figure which had fallen to 4.6 per cent by Q4.
Neil Banbury, UK general manager at Kindred, noted: “This is another important step on our journey to zero. We are committed to contributing positively to that debate and believe that by providing further data from our books and working together with government and other stakeholders, we can reach a solution to ensure players who need assistance with their betting behaviour receive it.
“We have come a long way at Kindred – with our internal processes helping to inform deposit limits and other safer gambling tools – but we want to continue going further to drive down that figure to 0 percent by 2023.
“That is why in the coming months we will also be announcing additional measures and programmes that will bring in external views and advice as we continue to strive towards our journey to zero.”
