Kindred Supports Safer Gambling Week
International gambling operator Kindred has shown its support for the UK’s Safer Gambling Week. For this year’s campaign, it has donated its front of shirt sponsorships for Middlesbrough FC and Rangers FC for one week. Player shirts will highlight the group’s efforts to reach 0% of revenue generated by high-risk players.
Safer Gambling is a cross-industry initiative that takes place every October, and is now in its fifth year. ©Tembela Bohle/Pexels
Football Shirt Sponsorships
Leading gambling operator Kindred has committed to doing its bit to support cross-industry initiative Safer Gambling Week, which started on October 17th. The group has revealed that it has donated its front of shirt sponsorships of Middlesbrough FC and Rangers FC to promote Safer Gambling Week.
Middlesbrough shirts normally sport the logo for betting platform Unibet, one of Kindred’s most popular brands. Meanwhile, Kindred brand 32Red has sponsored the shirts of Rangers FC since 2014. For one week only, players will instead wear shirts emblazoned with a Zero % Mission logo on the front. Including Unibet and 32Red, Kindred is responsible for eleven of Europe’s best-loved online gambling brands.
The logo highlights Kindred’s commitment to reach its goal of 0% of revenues generated from harmful gambling by the end of 2023. It has been working towards its Journey to Zero goal since 2020, and recent data shows that around 3% of its revenue is derived from high-risk players. That figure is dropping as the strategy progresses, although it is clear that a big push will be necessary to meet its 0% target by next year.
Kindred has supported its mission by introducing a number of early detection measures. These are focused on educating customers on safer gambling and interacting with players when signs of changed behavior are detected. According to the group, in almost 85% of cases customers that are intervened with go on to reduce their risk of problem gambling. Kindred is committed to driving that figure even higher.
Football fans will be able to see the shirts worn by Middlesbrough when they face off against Wigan Athletic on October 19th and Huddersfield on October 22nd. Scottish Premier League club Rangers FC will wear their Safer Gambling Week shirts as they play Dundee United on October 19th, in the quarter final for the Scottish League Cup.
Promoting Customer Protections
Speaking on behalf of Kindred, General Manager of its operations in the UK, Neil Banbury commented on the good progress that the group is making. He described Safer Gambling Week as a great time to reflect on Kindred’s work to protect customers, as well as the improvements it has made through technological advances.
Chief Commercial Officer of Middlesbrough FC, Lee Fryett, was happy to share the news that the club would be participating in Safer Gambling Week. Zero % Mission branding will also be promoted on official club channels, such as the website and social media, as well as on LED screens and the club’s program. Fryett stated:
“We’re delighted to support and facilitate this initiative as part of Safer Gambling Week. Our partnership with Kindred is one that allows the club to continue to invest in all elements of our operations, including the MFC Foundation. In turn, this means we can fully support so many great activities and programs that provide tangible benefits to local communities.”
Safer Gambling Week is an annual campaign that strives to start conversations about safer gambling and drive awareness of gambling safeguards and best practices. This includes signposting the public to safer gambling tools, highlighting where to find advice and support and sharing information on how people can change their approach to gambling.
This year’s campaign started on Monday, October 17th and runs until Sunday, October 23rd. Over the course of the week, members of gambling industry across the UK and Ireland will contribute to the initiative. Operators will promote the campaign via social media, through collaborations with charities and associations and by donating their advertising space to the cause.
Strong Words from Charity
While Safer Gambling Week strives to improve industry practices and promote safer gambling techniques amongst players, its efforts have not been universally praised. Charity Gambling With Lives this week lashed out at the campaign, branding it a ‘yearly deception’.
Gambling With Lives represents families that have been left bereaved by gambling-related suicides. It has called on ministers to do more to make gambling safer and reject the industry-funded campaign. In an opinion piece published by Commons news outlet PoliticsHome, the charity’s Strategy Director Will Prochaska explained why he takes issue with Safer Gambling Week.
According to Prochaska, the annual campaign, which is now in its fifth year, shifts the blame of problem gambling from the industry onto consumers. Gambling With Lives is concerned that this practice could perpetuate the stigma that leads to gambling addiction and is damaging to the mental health of those already struggling.
Signing off the critical piece, Prochaska warned MPs against showing their support to Safer Gambling Week, labelling it an embarrassment. While a number of prominent MPs, including Labour’s Carolyn Harris and Tory Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have campaigned for the government to introduce radical gambling reforms, not all MPs have pitted themselves against the industry.
Damian Collins, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the DCMS, has already showed his support for Safer Gambling Week, praising the industry for coming together. Collins also addressed the prickly issue of the much-delayed white paper, which is set to detail new gambling legislation. Speaking on behalf of the DCMS, he said that the white paper is in the process of being finalized so that new rules on governing the industry are fit for the digital age.
It has recently been rumored that the gambling white paper could be one of a number to be scrapped by the government, despite being on the verge of publication since the summer. As Prime Minister Liz Truss faces calls from a number of Conservative MPs to go, it remains unlikely that the white paper will rise up the agenda until early next year.
