Sweden’s Svenska Spel has announced that it is to begin reporting the proportion of revenue it generates from customers with a lower risk of gambling problems.
Figures will be published for the first time at the end of August, covering the second quarter at Svenska Spel. The operator will then include this revenue information as part of its regular interim reporting.
Svenska Spel said it acknowledges the majority of its players have control over gambling and account for most of its revenue. However, it also recognises that some revenue comes from customers suffering from gambling related harm.
The operator will make use of risk models in its Playscan analysis tool to identify customers in each category. These have been developed in collaboration with Sustainable Interaction, an independent specialist in gambling responsibility.
Svenska Spel aiming to increase trust in gambling sector
The issue has been on the radar at Svenska Spel for some time now. In May 2021, then-CEO Patrik Hofbauer urged greater transparency when reporting revenue gained from harmful gambling.
New CEO Anna Johnson is seemingly of a similar mindset. She said offering more insight into “healthy” revenue will help increase trust in the sector as a whole.
“By reporting our share of healthy revenue and our work to counter gambling problems, we show that it is possible to run a gambling company in a sustainable way,” Johnson said. “It is an important step in the work to increase trust in the gaming industry in general.”
Svenska Spel chairman Erik Strand added: “All serious gambling companies work to protect their customers and reduce the number who get into trouble.
“In order to increase transparency in the gambling industry, it is important to report the share of healthy revenue, which is a central part of the work with responsible gambling.”
More transparency from Svenska Spek
This is not the first step Svenska Spel has taken in being more transparent.
In 2022, the operator, along with Kindred Group and ATG, began revealing their responsible gambling activities in the. Data is sent to Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen every six months.
The latest data set, published in February, covers the six months to 31 December 2023. It was the third update to have been published, following H2 of 2022 and H1 for last year.
Svenska Spel said it reached out to 1.9% of Swedish customers in the reporting period. Of those it spoke with, 74.8% reduced their gambling with 49.7% lowering their average deposits.
Svenska Spel also said 9.4% of contacted players self-excluded for at least six months, with 3.7’% opting for longer.
Kindred has taken this a step further, revealing how much revenue it generates from harmful gambling every quarter.
For Q1 this year, Kindred said harmful gambling accounted for 3.2% of all revenue in Q1. This was up from 3.1% in Q4 last year but less than the 3.3% in Q1 of 2023.
Kindred also reported a slight drop in the percentage of players whose behaviour improved after intervention. Of those detected players contacted during the period, 87.1% showed improved behaviour.
The group also noted a “sustained” trajectory in the improvement effect after interventions when looking at an extended period. The 87.1% rate reported in Q1 was higher than 86.4% in Q2 of 2023 and 86.7% in Q3.