Kindred Group published on Monday the share of revenue from harmful gambling report for Q4, 2021, which increased slightly to 4.0% when compared to the third quarter.
In February last year, Kindred announced its goal to reach zero percent revenue from harmful gambling by 2023 and to report this metric on a quarterly basis. The share of revenue from harmful gambling has fluctuated somewhat over the year and for the fourth quarter of 2021, it increased to 4.0% from 3.3% in the third quarter of 2021. The improvement effect after interventions grew to 79.2% in Q4.
The increase is based on different factors, according to a release by the operator. One of them is that, historically, the fourth quarter of the year sees an increase in high-risk gambling, given that the holiday season can be a sensitive time for some people. Another factor is that Kindred ceased all services towards Dutch residents at the end of September which led to an increase in the numbers reported. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, the value decreased slightly.
Since 2021, Kindred has been on a #journeytowardszero and has reported the % revenue from harmful gambling quarterly. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Kindred’s share of revenue from harmful gambling increased slightly to 4.0 per cent. Read more: https://t.co/m0qrxgaOgm pic.twitter.com/weekQvGtke
— Kindred Group (@KindredGroup) February 7, 2022
Although Kindred invested more resources into their Responsible Gambling team during this period, this also highlights the necessity to focus on earlier interventions that can be automated for the lower risk group of customers. An early engagement is important to disrupt behavioral development, which Kindred is focusing on achieving.
*90 day rolling period between 21 September and 31 December 2021
“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 percent 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 has a 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, we will launch automated interventions for lower-risk groups.” concluded Tjärnström.
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 behavioral tracking.