Kindred’s Head of Responsible Gaming and Research steps down
The head of Responsible Gaming and Research at Kindred and a contributor to the operator’s Mission to Zero initiative, Maris Catania, has stepped down from her role with immediate effect. The gaming manager for Kindred’s Player Safety, Esther Scheepers, will replace Catania.
Catania was pivotal to Kindred’s Mission to Zero initiative. ©Sollange Brennis/Unsplash
Catania served a little over three years under the aforementioned designation before deciding to step down and away from the operator to start her own venture in the consultancy sector. Her journey with Kindred started in 2009 when she operated as a Risk and Fraud Analyst, before going on to become a key component of Kindred Group’s famously transparent fight against problem gambling.
With Kindred, Catania developed the Player Safety – Early Detection System (PS-EDS). The innovation turned out to be quite advantageous for the operator from the commercial perspective to addressing Corporate Social Responsibility internally. Catania and Kindred’s PS-EDS won the Innovation of the Year award at the EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards 2014. The duo went on to win several industry awards after that. This year, Catania completed her Gambling Compliance Most Significant Contribution to Responsible Gambling Research award hat-trick.
A key component of Kindred’s Mission To Zero
Additionally, Catania has played a pivotal role in the operator’s Mission to Zero initiative. In 2018, Kindred announced its goal to derive 0% revenue from harmful gambling by 2023. In 2021, the operator became the first in its industry to disclose revenue roped in from players that showed traits of problematic gambling. Kindred stated that the reason behind the disclosure was to check their progress over the past three years at that time.
In an interview after the report was published, Catania had said that the main reason behind the disclosure was to increase transparency between the operator and the players. It was also done to amplify the attention on harmful gambling by engaging other operators and Kindred’s stakeholders. Apart from that, Catarina also stated that publishing such reports would help the operator monitor and assess its methods and whether or not they are doing what they are supposed to do or not.
The CEO of Kindred Group, Henrik Tjarnstrom, suggested in an interview earlier this year that the operator may not reach its target on time. When questioned about this, Catarina mentioned that even though Kindred may not reach its intended target next year, the efforts put in so far had helped the operator a fair bit. She also added that this outcome clearly indicated that the industry needed quite a few technological advancements. Subsequently, Kindred Group revealed in its quarterly report for Q3 this year, that it had formed a partnership with EPIC Risk Management with an intention to curb the revenue from harmful gambling through technology.
Kindred continues prioritizing the initiative
In 2022, Kindred has been quite active in its fight against problem gambling. In November this year, the operator announced a tie-up with Gamban and became the first online gambling operator to give users an option to block online gambling sites in France. Prior to that, in October, Kindred made its presence felt in UK’s Safer Gambling Week by donating front-of-shirt sponsorships for Middlesbrough FC and Rangers FC for a week.
Through all these activities and tie-ups, Catania played an influential role as the Head of Responsible Gaming and Research. She announced her exit on her personal LinkedIn profile and also named her successor in the same post.
“13 years ago I joined Kindred Group plc and looking back I cannot believe what a rollercoaster it has been. I have seen RG from a non existent necessary evil to an area on the top of the agenda for many (although more work is always needed on the topic). After so many years I have taken the decision to move from a full time role in Kindred to starting consultancy in the area. Of course, I will always be grateful for Kindred for all the opportunities they have given me, and I will still work with the company to continue on several projects especially research ones. I just feel that after all these years, I want to expand my knowledge to other areas and hopefully help others through RG research and RG initiatives. Having said all of this, I feel it’s been a whirlwind of emotions leaving my post as Head of RG, but knowing that Esther Scheepers will take on this role, makes me feel reassured that Kindred is in the right hands. I am super happy for her and have no doubt that she will excel in this.”
