Kindred’s harmful gambling revenue rises slightly in Q4

Kindred Group plc has recorded a four per cent share of revenue from harmful gambling during the final quarter of 2021, in a slight increase on the 3.3 per cent figure recorded in Q3.

The company made this declaration as part of its commitment to contribute to a more sustainable gambling industry, through the fostering of “an open and fact-based dialogue.”

Eventually, as part of its ‘journey to zero’, the group aims to reach zero per cent of its revenue from harmful gambling by the end of 2023, and says it will continue to make quarterly reports in its pursuit of this.

The company credits the final quarter increase on a number of factors, including that it usually sees an increase in high-risk gambling, due to the fact the holiday period is a sensitive one for some people.

Another factor is that Kindred ceased all serves towards Dutch residents at the end of September, which led to an increase in the number reported.

However, despite the quarterly increase, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, the value actually decreased slightly.

Kindred reflected on the quarter, saying that although it invested more resources into its Responsible Gambling team during the period, the results recorded also highlight a necessity to focus on earlier interventions which cane be automated for the lower risk group of customers.

"An early engagement is important to disrupt the behavioural development, which Kindred is focusing on achieving," it said.

During the year, Kindred continued to engage with researchers to further build on the approach to accurately identify markers of gambling harm and improve on existing measures to help customers stay in control of their gambling.

The most prominent result of 2021 was a peer-reviewed research paper looking into gambling harm markers that can be identified through online behavioural tracking. 

“Despite the share of revenue from harmful gambling increasing this quarter we remain dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero,” says Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred Group.

“While we are not pleased that the trend remains flat over the last year, we have known from the beginning that we won’t solve this overnight, and we know there is still work to do. We have committed ourselves to this ambition and we will continue to work towards reaching zero per cent revenue from harmful gambling.”

Mr Tjärnström also explained that in line with the company's harmful gambling initiative roadmap, Kindred looks forward to "even more" targeted deliveries planned for 2022.

During 2021, he said, the company was focused on research initiatives and has a better data-driven understanding of player dynamics.

Looking to the next year, he said: "We will, in 2022, continue the work to increase our capacity to effectively engage better and faster with detected customers. Besides additional self-control tools and optimised customer communication, will we launch automated interventions for lower risk groups.”