Kindred Group reports spike in harmful gambling revenue
Kindred Group has reported a spike in the share of revenue it generated from harmful gambling in the third quarter of 2022, in comparison to Q2. The report represents a small blow to the group’s larger efforts to completely eradicate such revenue from their books by the end of 2023.
It has been something of a USP for Kindred Group to be so deeply invested and transparent about reducing their revenue from harmful gambling. ©Patrick Perkins/Unsplash
The revenue from harmful gambling was steady from Q3 of last year until Q2 this year, sitting around 3.3% during that period. The small spike – between June 21 and September 19 this year – has seen it move up to 3.8% in Q3 of this year. In addition to that, a quarter-on-quarter drop in customers that showed improvement in play after the intervention was also reported by Kindred. The figure came down to 82.6% this quarter from 84.7% in Q2 and 83.1% in Q1. However, it is still significantly higher than the year-on-year Q3 figure of 64.9% that was recorded in the same quarter of 2021.
“We have not seen a desired sequential development this quarter, however, we have taken significant steps forward since launching our ambition in 2021. We have strengthened internal processes and aligned operations to continue our Journey towards Zero revenue from harmful gambling. We will continue to improve our technology and processes so that we increase our efficiency and speed in detecting and engaging with customers at risk. We know this has a positive effect. For the third quarter, almost 83 per cent of detected customers improved their behaviour after we reached out to them.”– Henrik Tjärnström, CEO, Kindred Group, Press release
Kindred still committed to the goal
Optimism is at its peak as Kindred intends to reach 0% revenue from harmful gambling by the end of next year. The operator understands how big a challenge this is but remains firm on this decision and will not tamper with its goal. Elaborating on the ongoing efforts to bring the revenue from harmful gambling down to zilch, Kindred is targeting four vital factors that it has discovered in this. These are:
- By raising awareness early on, it is possible to stay in control and reduce the time between detection and intervention
- The continued investment in and collaboration with researchers in order to better understand gambling behaviors
- Making sure that control tools are visible, understood, and used correctly
- Sharing knowledge and improving transparency within the industry among customers, researchers, regulators, and partners
With this in mind, Kindred has decided to partner with EPIC Risk Management once again in an effort to analyze and boost human intervention mechanisms. Kindred said it believes this partnership will ensure that manual interventions are better placed and promote healthier betting behavior amongst motivated customers. Dan Spencer, Director of Safe Gambing at EPIC Risk Management said the extended partnership was a great step forward.
“I am delighted to be renewing and extending our partnership with Kindred over the next three years. Kindred was the first operator that we worked with, and they continue to show their commitment towards player protection by placing value in lived experience voices. Kindred has shown great ambition in reducing revenue from high-risk players, and this partnership will ensure that EPIC remains part of that journey by providing industry-leading consultation services.”
Kindred’s recent efforts to promote safer gambling
Kindred’s support for safer gambling was typified last week when they showed their support to the Safer Gambling Week initiative in the UK. Kindred announced that they had donated shirt sponsorships revenue from Middlesbrough FC and Rangers FC, teams from English and Scottish football with whom they have sponsorship agreements. The logo of the betting platform Unibet is carried on the front of Middlesbrough jerseys while the logo of 32Red is present on the jerseys of Rangers FC. Both these brands belong to Kindred. For a week, players of both these clubs wore jerseys with a Zero % Mission logo on the front.
Middlesbrough donned the jerseys with this special message when they beat Wigan Athletic 4-1 on October 19th and wore them again in the 0-0 draw against Huddersfield on October 22nd. Rangers wore their Safe Gambling Week jerseys on October 19th when they defeated Dundee United 1-0 in the Scottish League Cup quarterfinal.
