32Red makes £48m a YEAR from gamblers who are considered to be at a ‘high risk’ of addiction 

Betting giant 32Red makes £48m a YEAR from gamblers who are considered to be at a ‘high risk’ of addiction

  • Kindred admitted making £48million a year from gamblers at risk of addiction 
  • 32Red and Unibet owner found £1 of each £23 lost came from potential addicts
  • The Swedish-based bookmaker is first to reveal figures putting pressure on rivals

A leading bookmaker has admitted making £48 million a year from gamblers at a ‘high risk’ of addiction.

Kindred, the owner of 32Red and Unibet, said its monitoring systems revealed that £1 in every £23 of losses came from potential addicts.

The Swedish-based bookmaker is the first to reveal the figures, piling pressure on its rivals to follow suit.

Kindred, the owner of 32Red and Unibet, said its monitoring systems revealed that £1 in every £23 of losses came from potential addicts (stock image)

Gambling companies are required to monitor their customers’ activity and intervene if players rapidly increase the amount of money or time they spend online betting.

Kindred banks more than £1.1 billion from bets each year, suggesting £48.3 million comes from potential addicts.

But experts cast doubt on the number, saying bookmakers are unlikely to use the same measures as psychologists and researchers, and the real figure could be much higher.

Last year a House of Lords committee estimated that 60 per cent of gambling losses came from a hardcore group of problem gamblers, who make up just 5 per cent of customers.

Gambling companies are required to monitor their customers’ activity and intervene if players rapidly increase the amount of money or time they spend online betting. Kindred banks more than £1.1 billion from bets each year, suggesting £48.3 million comes from potential addicts (stock image)

Gambling companies are required to monitor their customers’ activity and intervene if players rapidly increase the amount of money or time they spend online betting. Kindred banks more than £1.1 billion from bets each year, suggesting £48.3 million comes from potential addicts (stock image)

The claim was backed up in a major study last week, which found that more than half a million gamblers were depositing more than £900 a month, or two-fifths of their income.

It comes as the industry braces itself for the biggest shake-up in gambling laws for 15 years. New rules on advertising and limits for online stakes and monthly deposits are being considered.

Neil Banbury, general manager of Kindred UK, said: ‘We’re not putting this out as a claim of triumph but to be open and transparent. We welcome contributions, we want people to help us improve this area.’

Kindred said it had made 55,000 calls last year to customers after identifying potentially harmful gambling and this led to three-quarters of them ‘displaying healthier gambling behaviour’. 

Football clubs urged to ditch ads 

Football clubs have been urged to stop placing betting adverts in their social media feeds to protect young fans from being drawn into addiction.

Manchester City and Newcastle United are among the recipients of a letter signed by dozens of recovering gambling addicts and more than 60 politicians, including Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

The letter highlights the problem of supporters being bombarded with betting offers while they are ‘checking the starting line-up’. It is illegal for gambling companies to advertise to children, but many of the clubs’ online followers are under 18 and will see the posts. ‘It’s painful to see brands associated with unimaginable harm,’ the letter added.

It said it aimed to reduce the amount of revenue from gamblers showing signs of addiction to zero by 2023.

The £2 billion giant is a major sponsor of Championship football, advertising its brands on the shirts of Middlesbrough and Derby County football clubs.

The Daily Mail has been calling for greater protection for addicts with its Stop the Gambling Predators campaign.

In recent years there have been dozens of cases where gambling companies have failed to intervene when customers have spent more than they can afford. Ben Jones, who was jailed after stealing £370,000 from his employer to fund his habit, received only automated emails from Betway asking if he could afford his losses.

The failure to intervene to stop gamblers betting with stolen money, or more than they can afford, has been the subject of numerous regulatory fines.

Bookmakers have raced to design technology to collect data on customers, which could be used to boost profits and target marketing.

But the way they monitor problem gamblers remains a secret. Gambling expert Dan Waugh, from Regulus Partners, told the Financial Times: ‘There is often a mismatch between how operators identify potentially problematic gambling and how clinicians and researchers do.’

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