GamProtect chair Kane Purdy has quashed suggestions the single customer view (SCV) scheme will be used by operators to detect and restrict winning punters.
The SCV will allow operators to share data on customers with a view to better improve intervention and responsible gambling policies, with an end solution of potentially closing accounts for those who are deemed to be at-risk. Need the hyphen in at risk? Or does it need to be in inverted commas?
However, some consumers have aired concerns that companies that sign up to share customer data with one another could use that information to weed out some of the sharpest punters and collaborate to reduce their chances of success against bookmakers.
However, Purdy, while speaking at an activation event for GamProtect in London on Wednesday, 11 September, dismissed such speculation and insisted GamProtect is not an “Orwellian scheme” designed to hinder customers.
“This is just for the most vulnerable customers that we’re seeing, and the data we’re putting into the scheme is only first name, last name, date of birth, addresses and a flag,” the chair explained.
“We don’t give the reasons behind that flag or any additional detail, that is the information that goes into the scheme. Any other participating operators in that scheme can say, ‘Okay, I’ve got this unique person on here, I’m going to take action and close these accounts’.
“It is patently not about this Orwellian scheme to limit customers to share information among operators. It’s nothing to do with AML [anti-money laundering] or anything of those elements. This is purely to protect the most vulnerable customers that we see.”
GamProtect has been in the works since February 2020 and now, more than four years on, has some of the biggest operators in the market on board, including Flutter-owned duo Paddy Power and Betfair, Ladbrokes, Coral, bet365 and William Hill.
Yet, there are still some high-profile companies that are yet to sign up, something that Gambling Commission executive director Tim Miller told EGR could soon become mandatory.
Purdy, who is also a director at Gamesys Group, issued his own message to the few operators yet to commit to GamProtect, claiming it is unfathomable that GamProtect isn’t on the radar of every firm.
“I think our industry needs to start having common sense discussions,” he said.
“This is a proposition that I find it very difficult for a right-minded operator to reject. We can talk about timetables and backlogs and project focuses and things like that, and the timetable to do things, but I can’t see how this is not a proposition that is not on your radar.
“To listen to some of these contacts, and to say that we wouldn’t want to take action to better protect that individual, it’s even going so far as to be obtuse. This is the right proposition set up in the right way to better protect the most vulnerable customers that we see.”
Since launching in a test capacity in April 2023, more than 5,500 GamProtect users have been flagged as potentially vulnerable customers.
Purdy continued to call for operators to become integrated with the SCV scheme, insisting it is “easy to understand and easy to implement.”
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