Translating problem gambling: the Kindred approach
EGR Compliance speaks to Kindred’s head of player sustainability research & integrity team, Maris Bonello, about the company’s move to get the app translated and Kindred’s approach to responsible gambling in general.
Kindred Group recently sponsored the translation of a problem gambling app from Gambling Therapy into several Nordic languages including Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish.
The Gambling Therapy app is designed to help those struggling with problem gambling by providing easy access information and simple tools to help players remain in control of their gambling. It aims to provide a safe and secure environment for gambling.
At a time when responsible gambling and problem gambling are taking up headlines both in the UK and throughout Europe, apps like these serve as a welcome reminder that the industry is taking up the challenge of addressing problem gambling.
What difference does offering the problem gambling app for free make to your business model?
Maris Bonello (MB): To make things a bit clearer, the app was already provided for free, but it was not available in any of the Nordic languages. Having said that, if it had been available for a price, we would have pushed Gambling Therapy to make it free.
Initiatives such as Betfilter and Gamban come at a cost for those who wish to use them, however we offer these services for free to our customers as we believe that easy access to these tools is important. The reason for undertaking these initiatives is that there is a point where the customer will need support that we as a company are not equipped to provide.
Are Nordic punters more predisposed to addressing problem gambling issues?
MB: This is quite difficult to determine as such. We have seen certain differences in nationalities when contacting customers that may have a problem, but not a real difference in the predisposition to addressing problem gambling.
What is the most crucial aspect of responsible gambling for Kindred?
MB: In Kindred, we try to take a responsible gambling approach which is based on three focus areas; academic, community and customer. For us, it is crucial that each of these focus areas work together to complement each other. The academic focus is as indicated by name our work around academic projects. To make decisions that are sound and correct, academic focus should be at the top of the agenda.
In fact, we are one of the few gambling operators that has a team dedicated to player sustainability research. This team is constantly looking into innovative research focusing on consumer protection. This team works daily looking into new pattern detection models, risk scoring in identifying money laundering, fraud detection and the detection of problem gambling.
What does the Kindred player sustainability team do?
MB: The team is led by myself, I’m also currently doing a PhD on the topic of responsible gambling. What is so great about this as a researcher is that I can apply research-based indicators in real operational tasks and research areas that can really make a significant change in responsible gambling. This focus is also helping other academic initiatives such as a three-year project with renowned Professor Mark Griffiths and Michael Auer around different customer journeys, customers’ use with RG tools and high value customers.
Another research initiative was undertaken by Professor Jonathan Parke and Professor Adrian Parke in collaboration with GambleAware. As part of this research, all our customers received the PGSI test which identifies whether someone has a problem with their gambling or not. Customers that were identified as problem gamblers had their account activity analysed and were also interviewed. Invaluable indicators were given, and this research was also made public on the Gamble Aware website.
How does this inform Kindred’s responsible gambling strategy?
MB: From a community perspective, we try to have initiatives that will help the impact of harm resulting from pathological gambling. Such initiatives include offering online gambling blocking software such as Betfilter and Gamban for free, supporting the development of the Gambling Therapy app, supporting the development of AdBlocker and collaborating with treatment centres. Collaboration is a key theme at this year’s Sustainable Gambling Conference in Stockholm.
Customer focus is anything that has to do with the customer which ranges from offering the best possible RG tools to having a detection system that notifies us when there are signs of problem gambling. Systems like PS-EDS (Player Safety – Early Detection System) was built by Kindred and are still supported to this day. How do these three areas work together?
For example, the PS-EDS is based on empirical research (academic focus) which in turn once detected the customer is advised on RG tools and advice based on individual attention (customer focus), to which is validated and checked by treatment centres (community focus).