Kindred Group has provided an update on its ‘Journey to Zero’ initiative, first introduced one year ago, which has seen the firm pledge to generate 0% of revenue from harmful gambling by 2023. 

Publishing two separate reports, Kindred updated that harmful gambling revenue increased from 3.3% in Q3 2021 to 4% in Q4, although in the UK this figure decreased from 5.5% int the first quarter to 4.6% in the fourth, a declining rate of 16%.

Utilising a data-focused approach, the Nasdaq Stockholm-listed international betting and gaming group hopes to influence the UK government’s agenda as legislators prepare to publish the White Paper on the 2005 Gambling Act review. 

In particular, the firm has asserted that its data shows ‘significantly lower’ risk profiles for higher spending accounts than the risk profile of lower spending accounts, whilst the firm has achieved less than 1% of revenue from ‘potentially financially vulnerable accounts’ through new partnerships and affordability profiling. 

Additionally, Kindred stated that the risk profile of customers who ceased activity when asked to provide financial information was ‘significantly below’ the UK average, suggesting a need to address affordability in a ‘smarter way than imposing blanket document checks’”.

Neil Banbury, UK General Manager at Kindred Group, said: “This is another important step on our Journey to Zero. We are committed to contributing positively to that debate and believe that by providing further data from our books and working together with government and other stakeholders, we can reach a solution to ensure players who need assistance with their betting behaviour receive it. 

“We have come a long way at Kindred – with our internal processes helping to inform deposit limits and other safer gambling tools – but we want to continue going further to drive down that figure to 0% by 2023. 

“That is why in the coming months we will also be announcing additional measures and programmes that will bring in external views and advice as we continue to strive towards our Journey to Zero.”

Regarding the wider increase in Kindred’s revenue from high-risk customers outside the UK, however, the company has attributed a number of factors, notably identifying the fourth quarter of the year as a period which typically sees an increase in high-risk gambling. 

Additionally, developments in the Netherlands were highlighted as having a detrimental impact on Kindred’s figures, as the company was forced to cease providing its services towards Dutch customers, leading to a rise in reported numbers. Kindred maintains that “compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, the value decreased slightly”. 

“Despite the share of revenue from harmful gambling increasing this quarter we remain dedicated and focused on our journey towards zero,” remarked 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 0% revenue from harmful gambling.”

Moving forward, Kindred has detailed plans to collaborate further with researchers, invest resources into the Responsible Gambling Team and focus on disrupting behavioural development of problem gambling. 

”In line with our roadmap, we look forward to even more targeted deliveries planned for 2022,” Tjärnström continued. “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 optimised customer communication, will we launch automated interventions for lower risk groups.”