'You guys have a problem with affordability checks - we've got a solution'

The issue of affordability checks continues to hang over the gambling sector but the team behind ClearStake, a business backed by industry professionals, believes it has a solution to make the process much easier for bookmakers and punters.

Affordability checks were expected to feature in the government's gambling review white paper but although there are reports that Liz Truss's government may scrap plans for reform that does not mean the issue is going away.

The Gambling Commission has emphasised the need for betting operators to carry out such checks, which have resulted in their customers being asked to provide personal financial information in order to continue to have a bet, often with the result that the customer has gone elsewhere.

ClearStake uses open banking to allow customers to share their financial information instead.

Chief executive Martin Burt founded the company in 2019 and investors include Oli Slipper, co-founder of Perform Group, Cormac Barry, the former chief executive of Flutter Entertainment's Australian arm Sportsbet, and Paddy Power from the bookmaking family.

Burt said: "I just saw a problem that I thought would be really interesting to solve. I've got a lot of friends in the industry and I heard frustrations from the players' side and the operator side. I saw the way the industry was currently doing these things and I saw the direction of travel.

"I said hang on, in the fintech world this is how they do it. They just click a button and bang, all the analysis is done and yes, you can have your mortgage and yes, you can have your car financed. Why is that not happening here?"

Burt describes the current methods for assessing a customer's affordability, in which they are asked to provide information such as bank statements which a compliance officer has to go through, as a "terrible experience for both the operator and the player".

"The key thing is that actually 70 to 80 per cent of people will churn before they even send their bank statements," he added.

"We are talking about very meaningful numbers for operators and these are by definition the high spenders who are churning because you are not asking £5 punters for their bank statements. This adds up to some serious, serious revenue lost.

"We can reduce that inefficiency and save operators a lot of money at the same time, but then also give players a really, really good experience because at the moment they have got a terrible experience."

The Gambling Commission has emphasised to operators the need to carry out checks

ClearStake allows customers to share their financial data through open banking – consenting to share information from their bank with the gambling operator concerned – although it also enables customers to share conventional statements.

Once uploaded, ClearStake calculates customer income and outgoings to establish affordability, and flags risk indicators such as high gambling spend, significant debt repayments, benefits, or any other unusual transactions.

It then recommends a decision, with each case stored so that evidence can be provided should the Gambling Commission request it.

"What we are essentially about is giving the player a really simple way to share their financial data in one or two clicks," Burt said, "and then allowing the operator a really easy simple way to analyse that data accurately and very quickly make a decision and relay that decision back to the customer."

Burt said ClearStake was not on a crusade to drive affordability checks.

"We're not pushing at all for more affordability checks, we're just saying you guys have a problem now, we've got a solution," he said. "We're here to help."

He added: "The operators are our customers and we're trying to help the industry and operators evolve to a place where they can do these things easily, take bets from people but protect people who need protecting."

Burt admitted that they had received pushback from those who think players will not share their data but he does not believe that is the case.

"In other sectors people are very, very quick to share their financial data," he said. "It's demographically driven of course. The younger generation will share their data at the click of a button, a 70-year-old person might not. But again the direction of travel is only going one way.

"In other industries people are very happy to share their financial data – mortgages, renting, insurance are all using open banking and as this become more normal we think players will be happy to do it.

"There are some people who do not want to share their financial data, period, and that's never going to change. For most people, if they get an easier solution for getting on with what they want to do, which is putting a bet on, they will do it."

Burt said ClearStake was having "very developed discussions" with operators, adding: "The reaction has been quite frankly, from pretty much every operator, this is a product that we need and it's the best product that we've seen."

He added: "The direction of travel is going one way but it doesn't have to be hard to do this. It doesn't have to be hard for the operators, it doesn't have to be hard for the guys who want to bet.

"This isn't about snooping on your finances, it is not about evil operators trying to find out how to make you lose loads of money. It's simple in other industries, why can't we make it simple here?"

Kindred Group sets revenue goal of £1.6 billion

Kindred Group is aiming to reach annual revenue of more than £1.6 billion by 2025 as the company unveiled its financial targets last week.

The parent company of Unibet had a capital markets day at which it laid out priorities including gaining further market share by being "a trusted source of entertainment" in its existing core markets, developing a strong position in the Netherlands, the development of the Kindred Sportsbook Platform and "building on the solid market foundation established in North America".

Kindred Group chief executive Henrik Tjarnstrom

"We have been a driving force in the transformation of the industry and understood early on the requirements to succeed in a locally regulated and complex environment, '' said chief executive Henrik Tjärnström. "We now have critical building blocks in place, and I am fully confident in the direction we are taking.

"It is also very encouraging to see the progress being made in the development of our Kindred Sportsbook Platform, with key milestones already achieved, towards a selected market launch around year-end 2023.

"The entry into the Netherlands has also exceeded our expectations and we are well under way to reach our ambition of a 15 per cent market share by the end of the year."

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Read more

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Regulator slammed for ramping up affordability checks ahead of gambling review

'Non-intrusive' affordability checks expected to feature in gambling white paper

'Hours and hours wasted' – the punters already affected by affordability checks

Gambling Commission boss defends 'lack of transparency' on affordability checks

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