CEO Special 2020: Kindred Group - Eradicating problem gambling

Have you ever heard of a 10-year-old kid winning the Swedish lottery?

Henrik Tjernström told Gambling Insider the situation "EXCLUSIVELY": "I was 10 years old in 1980 and I won 6, 500 Swedish kronor ($684). My mother invested it in bonds and I had some pocket money to buy new skates and sports equipment."

Of course, there were many other moments on Tjernström's path to becoming CEO of Kindred Group. But this is an absolutely hilarious story that the boss told at the beginning of the interview. "In Sweden now, there is a strict age limit of 18, and the lottery is pretty aggressive in the lottery shops. "But back then, kids could bet just 50 cents ($0. 65) to get five lines, and I won what I needed, which was about £600. We lived in the countryside, so when the postman came, he wondered if my founder had won the lottery. My grandmother said, "No, Henrik won!"

Going back to the Kindred CEO's childhood, it's not surprising to hear of a boy's dream of becoming a soccer player. Tjernström quips about the insight that was so promising, "This is highly unlikely to happen," and has no regrets about the fact that he decided to "accept reality and get a normal job."

Tjernström's father worked in construction and encouraged his son to follow the same path. In 1990, when he was 20, after four years of technical school, Tjernström began working as an engineer for the Swedish construction company Skanska. He then worked for Skanska for six years, completing a master's degree in engineering and management between 1996 and 2000.

He returned to Skanska in 2003 and moved to London to work on various schemes for the Royal English Clinic. During this time, Tjernström sat on the board of Unibet (later to become Kindred) as a non-executive director until 2008. The Kindred CEO says he was interested in gambling from an early age, and that it was an integral part of Swedish culture. Winning the lottery at an early age was probably a factor.

Later, Tienez Teus, who has been working for five years as a director of Univ, received a freeze offer with extraordinary directors and had a chance to actually expand his charm into the game. "The General Manager Peter Nander was satisfied with what I was doing. As a result, I was appointed a money director without a change for two and a half years." The strom looks back. "When Peter returned to Sweden in the middle of 2010, I borrowed a management director and still remained for them. I saw the company leaking from various boundaries. I really like what we are doing, and some have a mythical teamwork.

In fact, I knew that it would be controversial to some extent. We are quite proud of working with Derby County, and we are really grateful for this partnership, raising men's awareness of psychological welby swings, and cooperating with the district association.

As a precedent, it is important that Sandland has occupied his position for at least 10 years. During this time, almost all generation directors came and had a lon g-term post, and only a few of the branches had a lon g-term post. To that end, the thrilling street gave an interesting answer to the gambling insider's question of what actually needed. In fact, the Swedish people believe that they must be "slightly paranoid", including when Kindred showed good results. Shor t-circuit opportunities can change the situation every time, but Thunder Bhames basically have a clear long project and focus on believing in it.

For Kindred, the project is linked to business indications. "In 2010, we wanted everything to be realized by 2015," he explained. "We are now here in 2019, and 57 % are coming from a regional level, and since 2010, we have moved on conditions, costs, and how to prepare for business. This is basically justice that everything is happening.

Regulatory markets cannot be used without textbooks on Sweden, sewage, or rescue. Thrill Stust, in fact, accepted that Kindred did not expect the "number of leakage from the system", and later introduced the coordination on January 1, 2019, the Sweden of the business operator's financial performance. The impact was remarkable. The profit in the third quarter of 2019 was 2206 million pounds (approximately 290 million yen), 2 % soaring 2 % (about 290 million yen) compared to the same period of last year, and the profit over the whole year was 6760. It became 10 pounds (about 70 billion yen).

The EBITDA indicator was down 33% in the third quarter (to GBP 37 million) and 32% year-on-year (to GBP 98 million). The third quarter pre-tax related profit was GBP 21 million (49% down year-on-year) and the profit after tax was GBP 18 million (51% down year-on-year). Not surprisingly, these results coincided with a reduction in promotional expenses from SEK 82. 32 at the start of the year to SEK 57. 12 at the time of writing.

"We, and many of our rivals, were waiting for a period of intensive growth," says Turnerström. "From the perspective of regulated operators, this is a pretty big drop in the same way, and it's not possible that it's not interesting. I never thought people would be as opportunistic and aggressive as they were before. In fact, we know that Dark Bazaar is just a click away from us, but it's not closed, for example, it is considered a self-exclusion registration, and you will see a link to how to get a pause on a game on Google and 1 "Play at unlicensed Swedish casinos". Here is how similar sites are all available.

What Sandland noted here is the main sentence "sewage". Sewage determines the share of the market that public regulated operators will have. If you hear this sentence often, you may be taken off with a corny cliché, especially considering how often the word has been used in recent months. But, as Kindred's managing director says, "The only way to measure the victory of the regulated market is to measure its channels."

Thrill Streeter warns, "The system error is that there are really only B2C licenses. We pleaded for them to be added to the existing B2B licensing regime. Without it, regulators do not have enough tools to fight the black market. " According to official information, the channeling rate in January was 100%, and now it is only 85%. According to unofficial information, speaking with industry colleagues, channeling has already reached 60-70%, especially in the casino sector. Both politicians and regulators have already begun to take this situation into account.

In this context, the Swedish did not mention the recent instructions of the Group's Group on the battle against the harm of Gambling in England. He is one of the many people who states that the proposed online slot machines for £ 2 pounds will cause a major damage to the outflow of 90 to 100 % in real time. 95%. However, Tieln Strem says, "If you make adjustments in the online world, you must be very careful." As you can see from Sweden, the candidate comes out with one click. I think it is very important to emphasize that if channeling exceeds 90 %, it will be useful for all members of society. "

In addition to securing tax revenue, reinvesting in sports, enhancing operators' future performance monitoring, securing player protection is an important goal of fighting the dark market. The collective letter of Kindred in the presentation to regulatory authorities, rival companies, and investors is considered to be a central gambling attitude, and in fact, the business operator is a problem gambling by 2023. I want to make a profit of 0 %. Despite the fact that the company was awarded the 2019 Global Gaming Awards for Syria Silia Silia Seris Gambling Software, Kindred faced serious criticism last August in an episode related to former British soccer player Wayne Rooney. 。

When Derby County, a British championship soccer club known as an online casino 32RED sponsor under Kindred, announced a contract with Rooney in January, his eyebrows were frowned in the soccer world. When Rooney was announced that he would put his jersey number 32 as part of the 32RED sponsorship, some angry voices were raised. The main critics were GVC's Kenny Alexander CEO, who called this movement a "complete goal."

"I knew that this would be a bit controversial." We are looking at this approach from a broader perspective. We are proud of being with Derby County, and this collaboration. Through the male awareness of mental health and cooperating with the local community, we are used for good purpose, and should be regarded as excessive gambling excuse. We believe that we believe that we have our own role in this matter as long as the buyers actually play with moderation.

I don't think it's impossible to think that if new technologies and tools can be used freely, you can completely eradicate the curren t-existing problem gambling. The important thing is that this happens in an open and colorless and transparent environment.

This has helped Tjernström achieve Kindred's goal of 0%. The company doesn't need buyers to play with more money than they can afford to lose. The CEO's text states that commitment is considered a "fundamental aspect" of long-term profitability. But given the nature of the industry and its products, is it really possible to eliminate all profits from problem gambling by 2023? "Of course, everything comes into play to determine what is harmful gambling and what is not," Tjernström says. "Of course, it's all together to determine what is harmful gambling and what is not. Of course, someone from the outside has the ability to declare bias, and we are aware of that. But we are becoming more and more transparent about our goals and what we are doing."

"We have a responsibility as an industry to fight the black market. This is probably more of a problem if you are a small operator that regulators can't easily reach. They have every chance to stay under the radar to a greater extent, but they are all equal and destroy almost everything for us, the big operators. So we need to work with regulators and other operators to create a win-win market for players, and make sure that it's entertainment and nothing else."

Kindred's CEO, who emphasizes the fun of gaming, echoes the thoughts of Martin Carlesund of Evolution Gaming, another interviewee in this issue. According to both, these brands, such as Spotify, Netflix, and HBO, are considered to be the main rivals for gaming brands. According to Tjernström, gaming should be part of the customer's "holiday budget" and should build a relationship with the customer for life and make them want to come back. That means there's no point in luring customers out of everything they have so they'll never come back.

"I think it's reasonable to think that with new technologies and tools that are cheap to us, we can completely eradicate problem gambling as it exists today," Tjernström says. "What's important is that gambling happens in an open, transparent environment. What's important is that it happens in an open, transparent environment.

As we approach the end of the interview, this is one of the many goals that CEO talks. The other is about the "great opportunity" in the US market, where the unibett has a partnership with NBA, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Eagles and others. Tielnstrom recognizes that the Unitromes have appeared on the Atlantic Oceans, "appearing out of nowhere," and that European operators are facing issues in a completely different judicial jurisdiction.

"The balance between European digital skills and the local skills of the United States is good." It will still take some time to be recognized in New York and Pennsylvania. Pencil Vannia and New Jersey partnerships and we are. This will definitely help you spread the brand from the other MLS partnership.

"We are still honest, especially for the first few years, the United States is an investment plan. We are working on lon g-term projects. It is interesting to see the lon g-term trend. In many states, it's time to talk about lon g-term performance, but the situation is quite optimistic.

According to Tjernström, while he was working, the business grew twice the faster than the whole market, but the recent reconciliation of Sweden and recent problems with the Netherlands and Norway became a "perfect perfect storm." It is said. But he states, "From a basic point of view, we have any hope and basis for we believe that we will escape this recession and return to growth relatively quickly."

Please read the following for the continuation of the CEO special feature, or click here for the printed paper. As we approach the end of the < Span> interview, this is one of the many goals that CEO talks. The other is about the "great opportunity" in the US market, where the unibett has a partnership with NBA, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Eagles and others. Tielnstrom recognizes that the Unitromes have appeared on the Atlantic Oceans, "appearing out of nowhere," and that European operators are facing issues in a completely different judicial jurisdiction.

"The balance between European digital skills and the local skills of the United States is good." It will still take some time to be recognized in New York and Pennsylvania. Pencil Vannia and New Jersey partnerships and we are. This will definitely help you spread the brand from the other MLS partnership.