Kindred Group has reported an increase in revenue from gambling that is harmful in Q1. There was also a decrease in customer behavior after the intervention.
Kindred’s latest Journey Towards Zero Report states that harmful gambling accounted 3.2% for all revenues in Q1 of the year. It was an increase from the Q4 of last year, but still less than 3.3% for Q1 2023.
This rate is based on the activity of all Kindred brands in 90 days, from 19 March to 18 March 2020. Kindred owns several online gambling giants, including Unibet and 32Red.
Kindred reported that alongside the increase in revenue from harmful gambling, a small drop was also seen in the number of players who improved their behaviour after the intervention.
The behaviour of 87.1% detected players was improved during this period. It was higher than the Q1 2023 figure of 83.0% but less than Q4’s 87.4%.
Kindred, however, was generally positive about the ongoing interventions. When examining a longer period, the group found that improvements were “sustained”. The Q1 rate of 87.1% was higher than the Q2 and Q3 rates in 2023.
Kindred calls for more regulatory support
Alexander Westrell of Kindred’s director of communication, Alexander Westrell said that there was still more to do in order to reduce harmful gambling revenues.
Westrell took this opportunity to urge more cooperation between regulators and operators to combat harmful gambling.
Westrell stated, “We are continuing to see the share of revenues from high-risk customers fluctuate quarterly and we work closely with teams throughout the company to help our customers to a sustainable gambling experience.”
It is encouraging that our Journey Towards Zero Data has decreased steadily since 2020. The healthier gambling behavior effect can also be observed after interventions.
This tells us that our efforts are paying off. However, we must continue pushing ourselves in order to achieve a sustained progress.
We hope that more regulators will engage the industry, and experts in order to ensure a sustainable industry.
Kindred started publishing information about harmful gambling revenues and the improvement after intervention in February 2021. Every quarter, updates are released.
Work continues on FDJ/Kindred Deal
Kindred’s fate is still in the balance when this report was released.
La Francaise des Jeux, a French gaming giant and lottery operator, made an acquisition offer earlier this year. The proposal from French lottery and gaming giant FDJ is worth SEK27.96bn (PS2.07bn/EUR2.40bn/$2.56bn).
FDJ claimed that the merger would make the company the second-largest operator in Europe. It also referred to the business combined as a “European Gaming Champion” with strong revenue growth and profits.
FDJ published the document in February, which is the public offer document. The acceptance period will last until 19 November.
Kindred’s board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept this offer. The FDJ Board is also in support of the proposal.
