Kindred Group's harmful gambling revenue falls to 3.3% yet 2023 target faces challenge
Revenue from harmful gambling fell 0.5 percentage points in Q4 as CEO laments lack of “steadily declining” harmful gambling
Kindred Group has announced that its share of revenue from harmful gambling decreased to 3.3% for Q4 2022, compared to 3.8% in Q3.
The figure forms part of Kindred’s wider journey that started in February 2021 with the operator aiming to record 0% of revenue from harmful gambling by the end of 2023.
Kindred said the decrease from Q3 to Q4 was an overwhelmingly positive sign, with the last quarter of the year generally seeing an increase in high-risk gambling due to the holiday season.
In Q4 2021, revenue derived from harmful gambling amounted to 4%.
The Stockholm-listed firm stated that the reason for the decrease in Q4 was due to an improved approach towards its younger players, reducing harmful gambling and improving existing interventions, which led to fewer incorrect customer detections.
It was also revealed that during Q4, 82.1% of Kindred’s customers saw improved gambling behaviour following contact from the firm’s responsible gambling team.
Touching on the latest results, Kindred CEO Henrik Tjärnström, said: “I’m glad to see that the share of revenue from harmful gambling is once again on a downward trajectory.
“However, as we review the trend over these past two years, it is clear that there is still significant fluctuation and that the curve has not been as steadily declining as we hoped.
“While we have put in a lot of hard work, we have not seen the development needed to deliver on our 2023 ambition. Despite this, we remain firmly committed to our journey towards zero and to do the heavy lifting needed to reach this ambition,” Tjärnström added.
During the quarter, Kindred established the journey towards zero panel, a pilot scheme being trialled by the firm’s UK team.
The panel comprises of experts from across the industry, including BetKnowMore, DealMeOut and EPIC Risk Management and the operator’s former responsible gambling (RG) head Maris Catania.
Following the quarter’s conclusion, Catania announced her departure from the Swedish operator following a 14-year spell. She has started her own consultancy firm and has already linked up with SG:certified and NoNoxa.