Kindred Becomes the First Operator to Reveal Revenue Share From ‘High Risk’ Players

Kindred Group has set a new standard in the gambling industry by becoming the first gaming operator to disclose the portion of its corporate revenue that was earned from harmful gambling. The Stockholm-listed gaming operator held its earnings call for Q4 2020 earlier this week and revealed that 4.31% of the gross revenue it generated for that period came from players who are deemed to be ‘high risk.’

The 4.31% share of high-risk gamblers in the three months to 31st December 2021 was an improvement from Q3 2020 when 4.39% of the revenue came from the said demographic. For Q2 2020 however, the share had jumped from 4.72% from Q1 2020’s figure which stood at 3.88% – the lowest harmful gambling win for all three quarters.

Alongside the harmful gambling numbers, Kindred also reported that for Q4, it had achieved a 75.7% success rate on interventions that assisted in detecting potential problem gambling, effectively helping them return to healthier gaming habits. Furthermore, for this category, i.e., the ‘share of detected customers changing behavior after intervention’ the figures were 77.5%, 74.0%, and 76.3% for Q1, Q2, and Q3 2020 respectively.

Besides, the company disclosed that 98% of players across its platforms are responsible recreational gamblers.

The gambling group currently operates renowned casino and sportsbook brands such as Unibet, 32Red, Bingo.com, Otto Casino, and five other online gambling platforms catering to players from different parts of the world. Moving forward, Kindred has committed to reporting the gross winnings revenue collected from high-risk players across all its brands as part of its drive to push for safer gambling

Encouraging Healthier Gambling Habits

Further, the company’s statistics also show that the revenue share brought in by ‘low-risk’ and ‘medium-risk’ gamblers across its platforms significantly went down from quarter to quarter in the 2020 calendar year. The welcome decline correspondingly increased the volume of revenue share won by Kindred from players deemed as ‘social’ gamblers.

In the report, these numbers were attributed to Kindred’s Player Safety – Early Detection System (PS-EDS) which is said to be vital in assisting the company in its mission to detect any potential signs of harmful gambling behavior before it spins out of control. Through this system, players are encouraged to adopt healthier gambling habits by using in-house responsible gambling tools such as taking breaks from gambling, limiting their playing times, or setting a gambling budget.

If that doesn’t work, Kindred then switches to high gear by contacting the player via email, text messages, or a phone call. Per the company’s records about 55,000 calls are made annually to sensitize players about how they can gamble responsibly and safely by using the above-mentioned gaming restriction tools.

Zero Percent Ambition By 2023

Part of the reason why Kindred published this data – something that no other gambling company has done before, is to keep them focused on their ambition for achieving zero percent revenue share from high-risk players. The initiative started years ago and the company plans to get there by 2020.

Henrik Tjärnström, the Chief Executive Officer of Kindred Group affirmed the company’s move in a statement saying;

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“We constantly strive to become even better at identifying players that exhibit risky gambling behaviour and guide them back to healthier gambling habits. We want gambling to be simple and enjoyable for everyone. Reducing harmful gambling in society is a long-term process which requires a fact-based, open, and constructive dialogue, not least with decision-makers. We want to contribute to that.”

The company CEO also called on policymakers and regulators to reinforce this safer gambling initiative by introducing measures that will prevent gamblers from going to the black market. He added that;

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“The most important thing decision-makers can do right now is to reduce the flight to unlicensed gambling operators, who fail to provide players with any safety measures whatsoever. The so called channelisation must increase…

We want to share these figures to increase the understanding of our long-term sustainability work and contribute to a safer gambling experience. Local market regulation is an important part to achieve this.”