Kindred harmful gambling revenue share falls in Q4
Harmful gambling revenue share in the three-month period from 1 October to 31 December was 3.3%, down from 3.8% in the third quarter and in line with 3.3% in both the first and second quarters of 2022.
Kindred said this was a positive deviation from traditional trends, as the last quarter of the year generally sees an increase in high-risk gambling due to the holiday season. However, the 3.3% in Q4 of 2022 was lower than 4.0% in the previous year.
The Unibet operator put this down to an improved approach towards the younger demographic, reducing harmful gambling and improving existing interventions, resulting in fewer faulty customer detections.
Kindred also noted that 82.1% of detected customers saw improved gambling behaviour after contact was made by its responsible gambling team in Q4. However, this was down from 82.6% in Q3, 84.7% in Q2 and 83.1% in Q1.
“I’m glad to see that the share of revenue from harmful gambling is once again on a downward trajectory,” Kindred chief executive Henrik Tjärnström said. “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.”
The figures come after Kindred, along with Svenska Spel and ATG, last month published their first sets of responsible gambling data for operations in Sweden as part of an effort to increase transparency in the country.
For Kindred, the operator said 0.5% of all active customers in Sweden between 1 July and 31 December 2022 were contacted as a result of suspected and detected problematic gambling.
Of those contacted, 76.8% had reduced their gambling and 75.5% cut back on average deposits. Some 1.4% of customers chose to self-exclude from gambling for less than six months, and 0.5% for more than six months.
In related news, Kindred announced details of the new Journey towards Zero panel, a pilot project being driven by the team in the UK. The panel is made up of a range of expert organisations from across the gambling community and lived experience.
Initial members include BetKnowMore, DealMeOut and Epic Risk Management, while Maris Catania, advisor on responsible gambling and formerly head of responsible gaming and research at Kindred, also joined.
The panel will ensure Kindred stays on track with its Journey towards Zero by taking expert advice and guidance from members, as well as serve as a platform for discussions and recommendations on how to improve progress towards zero.
“We want operators to be ambitious in their safer gambling endeavours and encourage collaboration across the industry to achieve this,” Epic Risk Management’s director of safer gambling Daniel Spencer said. “We are delighted to be able to provide this further consumer insight that ultimately will lead to better player protection.”
DealMeOut chief executive Jordan Lea added: “The Journey towards Zero panel is a ground-breaking 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.”