The parent company of a Pennsylvania online gambling operator has taken explicit steps regarding problem gambling that are rare within the gaming industry. The Kindred Group has taken to reporting, as part of its regular earnings disclosures, what it deems “harmful revenue.”
The Kindred Group is the parent of Unibet, an online gambling operator responsible for the Unibet Sportsbook Pennsylvania and Unibet PA online casino. Unibet also has a presence in New Jersey and many other jurisdictions. Kindred Group, headquartered in Malta, is traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.
Harmful revenue, by Kindred’s definition, is “gross winnings revenue from high-risk players.” Kindred says it wants that figure to be zero.
Kindred: 3.3% Of Revenue From Harmful Wagering
However, for the time being, Kindred reports that 3.3% of its third quarter 2023 earnings were from “harmful” wagering. That figure was based on global statistics. An international company, Kindred Group has online gambling operations in Europe, North America, and Australia, with more than 30 million customers including those at PA online casino sites.
According to figures released by Kindred Group, the harmful revenue figure was 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022; 3.3% in the first quarter of 2023; 3.1% in the second quarter of 2023, and, as mentioned, 3.3% in the third quarter of 2023.
Harmful gambling is detected by Kindred by taking behavioral data points and blending those with complementary financial data – in all, Kindred’s analysis takes 27 features into consideration. By combining the well-known medical reference, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (known as the DSM-5), web analytics, and risk calculations, Kindred is better positioned to detect harmful gambling online, including those using Pennsylvania mobile gaming sites.
Defining Groups Of Gamblers Based On Risk
Gamblers are viewed in four categories: Social gambler, low risk, medium risk and high risk, as defined by the following characteristics:
- At low risk, customers are educated on responsible gambling practices.
- At medium risk, Kindred says its team engages with customers using messages, email, or calls “to proactively support the use of control tools or take a longer break from Kindred’s products or services.”
- At high risk, actions may be taken to minimize potential harm. That might include “block (the) customer and flag to (a) national exclusion scheme, and provide with info to access support services, for instance treatment centers.”
At the medium risk level, Kindred reports its intervention has had an improvement effect of greater than 80%.
Kindred’s goal is to take the percentage of “harmful revenue” from the current levels of a little more an than 3% down to zero.
In the Keystone State in July, Kindred had a rollout of its proprietary tech platform with Unibet Online Casino PA and Sportsbook app. That followed a similar launch in New Jersey in May. However, Unibet has been in the Pennsylvania market for three years. The company has operated in partnership with the Mohegan Casino near Wilkes-Barre.
