With its Q4 financial results set to be released later this week, Kindred has revealed one specific statistic that highlighted the company’s ‘commitment to safer gambling’ throughout the final quarter of 2022.
Kindred published that its share of revenue from harmful gambling decreased to 3.3 per cent, a decrease of 0.5 per cent on the previous quarter’s figure of 3.8 per cent.
The Malta-based operator cited an ‘increased focus on collaboration’ as a potential factor in the decrease of harmful gambling and announced that they would be launching a Journey to Zero panel to further support its preventative measures.
Along with the decrease in share of revenue from harmful gambling, the Q4 statistics also revealed that 82.1 per cent of detected customers saw improved gambling behaviour after contact was made by Kindred’s responsible gambling team, a slight decrease on Q3’s 82.6 per cent.
“I’m glad to see that the share of revenue from harmful gambling is once again on a downward trajectory,” stated Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred.
“However, as we review the trend over these past two years, it is clear that there is still significant fluctuation and that the curve has not been as steadily declining as we hoped. While we have put in a lot of hard work, we have not seen the development needed to deliver on our 2023 ambition.
“Despite this we remain firmly committed to our Journey towards Zero, and to do the heavy lifting needed to reach this ambition. We have known from the beginning that we would not solve this overnight and continue to acknowledge the complexity of the task.
“That being said, we are very happy that we set an ambitious goal, as it has served as a catalyst for our development and prompted us to pick up the pace.”
Kindred launched its campaign against harmful gambling in February 2021 with a mission to see its share of revenue from harmful gambling decreased all the way to zero, named its Journey to Zero.
Whilst the company has suggested that ‘the journey is longer and more challenging than first expected’, the campaign has maintained itself as a focal point for Kindred throughout the past two years.
Although the igaming firm saw a rise in harmful gambling in 2022 from Q2’s 3.3 per cent to Q3’s 3.8 per cent, the results for the final quarter have shown that the Journey to Zero may be back on track.
Tjärnström continued: “I’m glad to see that the share of revenue from harmful gambling is once again on a downward trajectory. However, as we review the trend over these past two years, it is clear that there is still significant fluctuation and that the curve has not been as steadily declining as we hoped. While we have put in a lot of hard work, we have not seen the development needed to deliver on our 2023 ambition. Despite this we remain firmly committed to our Journey towards Zero, and to do the heavy lifting needed to reach this ambition.
“We have known from the beginning that we would not solve this overnight and continue to acknowledge the complexity of the task. That being said, we are very happy that we set an ambitious goal, as it has served as a catalyst for our development and prompted us to pick up the pace.”
“It’s also pleasing to see how the ambition we set two years ago has inspired the industry to become more transparent on this topic. The initiative we presented together with ATG and Svenska Spel in October 2022, with all three companies publicly disclosing joint responsible gambling data in January 2023, is a testament to this. I hope we can see similar initiatives and collaborations across more markets”
To help the company support its optimistic Journey to Zero campaign, Kindred will be launching a Journey to Zero panel driven by its team in the UK.
The panel will be made up of a range of professionals from a range of organisations, using industry expertise, research and lived experience to aid Kindred in its goal of zero per cent of revenue from harmful gambling.
Along with Maris Catania, Kindred’s Advisor on Responsible Gambling, initial members of the panel will include representatives from BetKnowMore, DealMeOut and EPIC Risk Management.
Daniel Spencer, Director of Safer Gambling at EPIC Risk Management, commented: “EPIC have been working with Kindred for some years now and recently extended that partnership to provide expert insight and consultation to help their Journey towards Zero.
“We want operators to be ambitious in their safer gambling endeavours and encourage collaboration across the industry to achieve this. We are delighted to be able to provide this further consumer insight that ultimately will lead to better player protection.”
With Kindred set to report on the panel’s progress in ‘the coming months’, the Journey to Zero panel will use its first iteration to host a number of focus groups and workshops with panellists to hear their views and suggest areas for improvement and further collaboration.
Jordan Lea, CEO of DealMeOut, added: “The Journey towards Zero Panel is a groundbreaking and important piece of work. It is an honour to support it, and it will be an excellent opportunity for many with a wealth of experience from across the sector to ensure Kindred are best equipped to prevent gambling harm.”