The Kindred Group recently released data on customer behavior during the recent FIFA World Cup tournament and concluded there was no increase in harmful customer behavior.
Kindred Head of Corporate Affairs Tom Banks on the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) website explained the company’s data showed there was no increase in customer harm detection.
The group, which consists of nine brands including Unibet, has had online gambling blockers since 2018 to ensure customers who wanted to exclude themselves from sites could do so.
The data was specifically tailored for U.K. customers and the website said that 45 percent of users utilized at least one control tool on their account in the third quarter of 2022.
That number jumped to 57 percent during the final quarter of the year, including the World Cup.
The number is a dramatic increase from when Euro 2020, another high-profile soccer tournament, was taking place. During that period, approximately 20 percent of customers were using responsible gambling (RG) tools.
The demographic that saw the biggest increase in RG tools was those under 25 years of age. In the third quarter of 2022, 40 percent were using the devices. That number went up 58 percent in the last three months. That is a 346 percent increase from the 14 percent who were using RG tools during Euro 2020.
“We all know that betting is a popular pastime for Brits,” Banks said on the website. “Almost half of all adults engage in some form of gambling – from playing the lottery, having a flutter on the football or horse racing to playing online casino games. For many, it forms part of our digital entertainment budget for the month – competing with the purchase of films, sport or music.”
Banks said the company is committed to responsible gambling and does everything it can to make sure customers are safe.
“The last thing that Kindred – a listed PLC – wants is players suffering harm with their gambling” Everyone loses when someone loses control of their betting. However, claims that problem gambling is in our interest or that half of our revenue comes from problem gamblers are wide of the mark, lack any factual foundation and actually make it harder to solve the underlying issue.”
