Entain targets ‘hyper-personalisation’ with improved markers of harm system

Entain will introduce real-time, individually tailored responsible gambling checks on customers as part of its new Advanced Protection and Care (ARC) programme.

New markers will include additional checks on stake level changes, erratic play during a single session and signs that a player might be chasing losses.

These checks will work alongside Entain’s current player protection protocol, which analyses frequency of play, time of day, number of deposits and the number of cards players deposit with.

Currently the new markers are being trialled across the Ladbrokes and Coral brands in the UK. If successful, Entain plans to roll these out across further UK and international markets in the summer.

Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen hailed the ARC system as being fundamental to the firm’s ongoing sustainable growth strategy.

She said: “We are putting customers first, both by prioritising their safety through our use of technology to limit individual exposure to risk, while also enhancing their experience across all our brands.

“We will do this not only in our traditional markets of sports betting and gaming, but also as we grow into new areas, like video gaming and esports as a global entertainment company,” she added.

A key principle of the ARC system is hyper-personalisation, which protects players through player-specific checks, rather than blanket measures which could potentially be less effective.

“All blanket checks do is effectively annoy the 99% of players who are gambling safely and recreationally as part of their leisure time and don’t get to the nub of the problem of those who actually need it most,” Entain group corporate affairs director Grainne Hurst told EGR.

“What we’re doing is on a customer-by-customer basis, looking at a completely personalised player-protection system, because we know that each player plays differently, and those who might be at risk have different potential risk factors,” she added.

Data from the new models is to be assessed prior to further development of ARC in the coming months.

“What the existing marks of harm have shown is that when a customer comes in at potential risk of harm, they will spike,” Hurst explained.

“As a result of our interventions, we’re able to reduce that spike and reduce their spending by over half based on our current system.

“What we’re able to do with the new ARC system is get to those players before they spike, so we identify them at an earlier stage and are able to keep them playing safely with us online,” she added.

The additional markers were developed in two workshops attended by academics from a range of fields within behavioural science and representatives from the Harvard Medical School and Epic Risk Management.

It is understood the international rollout will be on a market-by-market basis, with individual adjustments being made based on cultural nuances.