Kindred Group plc has announced that its revenue share from harmful gambling increased slightly in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 4%, up from the 3.3% recorded in the previous quarter.
The group began its campaign towards zero revenue from harmful gambling in February last year as part of its commitment to contribute to a sustainable industry across all markets.
Kindred noted that its revenue share from harmful gambling fluctuated during 2021 (Q3: 3.3%, Q2: 4.3%, Q1: 3.9%), increasing to 4.0% in Q4 due to several factors. One reason was the time of the year usually sees an uptick in high-risk gambling as the holiday season can be a sensitive time for some individuals.
Another reason was it withdrew its operations from the Netherlands, noting it led to an increase in the numbers reported, but no reason as to why was provided.
Kindred stated that it invested more resources into its responsible gambling team during this period, adding the increase shows the necessity to focus on earlier interventions that can be automated for the lower risk group of customers.
The group’s data is backing up their processes, as Q4 2021 data shows that 79.2% of players that displayed harmful gambling behavior demonstrated an improvement in their behavior after intervention, up on Q3’s 64.9%.
Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred Group, commented: “Despite the share of revenue from harmful gambling increasing this quarter we remain dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero.
“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.
“In line with our roadmap, we look forward to even more targeted deliveries planned for 2022. While 2021 has been focused on research initiatives and have better data driven understanding of player dynamics, 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 optimized customer communication, will we launch automated interventions for lower risk groups.”
