SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Kindred’s ‘Journey towards Zero’ campaign to eliminate revenue gained from at-risk players seems to have taken a step backwards in the initiative’s latest update.
The company reported “a slight increase” in revenue from players prone to gambling harm in the first quarter of 2024, reaching the 3.2% mark in gross winnings compared to Q4 2023’s 3.1%.
As a result of some player groups exhibiting an increase in problem gambling behaviour driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 Kindred began its Journey towards Zero by issuing quarterly reports on its share of revenue from harmful gambling.
At launch, then-CEO of Kindred Henrik Tjärnström publicly took the responsibility to lead the company towards becoming the first operator to reach 0% revenue from harmful gambling by 2023. With that goal still on the agenda to this day, Tjärnström stepped away from his duties in May of the same year.
Generally speaking, Kindred’s share of gross winnings revenue from high-risk players hasn’t moved much since the start of 2023, fluctuating between 3.3% and 3.1% over the year.
However, although the 2023 mark to reach 0% wasn’t achieved, Kindred scored significant improvement elsewhere – 87.1% of players showed improved behaviour after interventions were made (Q423: 87.4%).
Alexander Westrell, Director of Communications at Kindred Group, commented: “We continue to see our share of revenue from high-risk players fluctuate quarter to quarter, and we are working closely with all teams across the company to support customers towards a more sustainable gambling experience.
“However, it is encouraging to see that our Journey towards Zero data has steadily decreased since 2020. A similar trend can be seen across the healthier gambling behaviour effect after interventions. This tells us two things: our work is paying off, but we need to continue to push ourselves to propel a sustainable progression.
“It was very encouraging to witness the open and transparent discussions at the Sustainable Gambling Conference in London on 20 March, where those with lived experience shared their important stories. Also, it is evident that technology is moving forward, and will provide greater opportunities to detect and intervene in the future.
“We hope to see more regulators engage with the industry and with experts to secure a more sustainable industry for everyone.”
