Entain is utilising technology to protect its players through the ARC initiative
Entain, who has Ladbrokes andPartyGaming under their umbrella, announced that they will launch affordability checks as part of the Advanced Responsibility and Care (ARC) initiative. The new checks will be implemented this summer across all their 14 brands.
The affordability checks aim is to identify when a customer is at risk of running into any financial difficulty due to their gambling behaviour. If Entain feel that a customer is on the verge of moving into some sort of difficulty then the company will implement staking limits and tighter affordability checks.
Entain’s Group Operations Director, Peter Marcus, explained how long Entain have been working towards the ARC affordability programme:
“We have been working on player affordability concepts for the past 18 months as part of our ARC affordability programme. This aims to identify relevant limits at the right time to protect customers whom our technology has identified as being vulnerable, or particularly at risk.”
Entain also claim to be the first major operator to utilise technology to ensure and implement player protection solutions, affordability checks and specific stake limits.
How will the ARC initiative work?
The ARC affordability framework utilises open source and commercially available data on its customers. The data will work with behavioural indicators to determine whether a customer is heading in a harmful direction.
Data scientists working for Entain built models to indicate several levels of potential financial risk. These models are now live on the company’s 14 UK brands.
The blanket proposal
The Gambling Commission has previously launched a consultation on affordability and intervention, with the aim to introduce more stringent regulations towards customer risk.
Many operators have criticised this proposal by the Gambling Commission as it may push people away from the regulated market and search for an opportunity in an unregulated environment which will put the players at a higher risk.
There are also concerns that what the Gambling Commission is aiming for may be on the verge of intruding the players’ right to privacy.
Therefore, it is thought by many that this may not prevent problem gambling but also harm sustainable gamblers.
The Entain way
Entain are looking to avoid negatively impacting sustainable gamblers by setting limits established through available data. These limits could then be raised once the player shares more information about their affordability.
Mr. Marcus also highlights the importance of the ARC initiative for both the customer and also the betting industry such as the horse-racing industry:
“For those we believe are at most financial risk, we set limits which only increase if those individuals share certain information about their affordability. This means the vast majority of customers who show no indications of financial risk can still bet with us freely.
We think this is an important step in preserving personal freedoms, and will also greatly benefit the horse-racing industry, which is concerned about the impact of blanket measures on its future viability.”
Entain will look to continuously develop ARC, with a number of models and behavioural indicators still being developed. ARC is also being customised for specific countries and cultural norms for the future.
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