Kindred Group calls for affordability check pilot scheme in white paper submission
Unibet parent company’s head of corporate affairs details the operator’s thoughts behind three key parts of its Gambling Commission consultation submission
Kindred Group has called for an affordability check pilot scheme to be “tested extensively” as part of the operator’s white paper consultation submission.
Today, 1 November, Kindred’s head of corporate affairs Tom Banks, detailed a summary of the group’s thoughts on three key consultation topics: affordability, slot stake limits and marketing.
On affordability checks, which will see light touch checks kick in at a £125 net loss in a 30-day period, Banks said that while the firm is “supportive” of the system, various wrinkles would need to be ironed out.
Banks remarked: “We believe further work is needed on the nature of the frictionless check itself, so we supported the testing of the check before implementation as a licence requirement.
“A pilot of this technology is critical to its future success – operators have the experience and systems in place to understand whether it will work in reality, and crucially if it meets the government’s ambition as genuinely targeted and frictionless for players,” he added.
Banks went on to note the Unibet parent company “disagreed strongly” with suggestions operators would have to manually review all checks, and that postcode and job title data from customers should be used.
Elsewhere, Banks highlighted Kindred’s support for ensuring online slots are “safe”, with the corporate affairs head adding that lower stake limits for 18-24-year-olds already exist on the platform.
Banks explained: “We made clear that our continued strong view is that we should base stake limits on risk, not blanket numbers – and the new financial risk check system gave the government and the Gambling Commission the opportunity to create a system where the two policies worked in tandem.”
Finally, Banks also lifted the lid on the operator’s thoughts behind more stringent standards for obtaining customers’ consent to direct marketing materials.
While Banks said Kindred was “supportive in principle of the overarching ambition to ensure customers receive marketing that is appropriate”, he did detail some issue the Stockholm-listed firm had taken during the consultation.
Banks noted that calls for operators to seek so-called ‘re-approval’ for communication with customers who had already given consent would go beyond the scope of the white paper.
Banks said: “We strongly disagreed with the requirement for us to seek ‘re-approval’ from our customers who have already expressed their consent for communications.
“Our current customers have already consented to receiving marketing communications across channels and for specific products – under law that is applicable at the time they gave consent – and should therefore not be in scope for this proposal.
“Mandating that all existing customers must be opted-out if they do not reselect their marketing preferences would be going above and beyond the scope of the white paper,” he added.
EGR Intel
