How data insights are helping Sky Betting to identify and support vulnerable customers - Steve Birch

Not only is this something that we are deeply proud of, but it has also been integral to the success that has seen us become one of the biggest betting brands in the UK and a core part of Flutter’s UK and Irish division.

It’s not bad for a little start-up founded in Harrogate just over 20 years ago.

Data has always been central to our business, yet it’s fair to say we’ve come a long way since those heady days back in 2001.

Then, SkyBet’s main aim was ensuring Sky subscribers were able to connect through to our website by pressing the ‘Red Button’ on the TV.

Today, we execute and settle millions of bets at speed for customers across the UK every week, mainly via smartphones. This is made possible by the 1,600 skilled colleagues we employ at our tech and innovation hub in Leeds.

We’ve grown to a point where we’re processing an enormous 10 terabytes worth of digital information each month – broadly speaking this is the same amount required to create 850 million Word documents.

As a regulated, data-rich business, we manage all the customer data we receive in a tightly controlled way to ensure we deliver our products reliably – and to ensure the business meets its legal and regulatory obligations.

The management of so much data is hugely complex and challenging considering the dual importance of consumer privacy and safer gambling.

But we continue to make great strides at both an operator and industry level, not least in recent months.

Earlier this year, our industry’s representative body, the Betting and Gaming Council, announced a trial that will aim to enable selected industry members share limited customer data with one another in a proactive, yet legal and responsible manner.

This ultimately will help the industry to work together to protect vulnerable customers and prevent them moving from one company to another if it’s clear they require help.

Establishing this so-called ‘Single Customer View’ has been a long-time ambition of the sector. It is fully supported by the Gambling Commission, is being developed under direct guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office via its’ regulatory sandbox environment and will be operated on behalf of the members by self-exclusion specialists GAMSTOP.

Alongside other Flutter-owned brands such as Paddy Power and Betfair, SBG is also working closely with trusted digital advertising specialists to actively direct sponsored social media adverts away from vulnerable customers, all while respecting their privacy.

This initiative has been a real success and, as part of the output of the Flutter-led AdTech industry working group, has been incorporated into the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling’s Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising, which aims to create a consistent standard across the industry.

To build on this initiative, we continue to work closely with social media platforms to develop stronger controls that will further prevent gambling ads being seen by anyone underage or at risk of gambling-related harm.

Like every tech-enabled business, SBG and other Flutter brands around the world are also enhancing how we manage and utilise the data we obtain, not just to improve operational performance but to understand our customers in greater detail and spot potential indicators of harm earlier.

This approach underpins our ‘Affordability Triple Step’, which works in conjunction with our safer gambling controls where we already use cutting-edge technology and algorithms to stay close to our customers, monitor individual behaviours and make interventions before their gambling becomes a problem. We’ve shared this approach with the Government and have begun to roll it out across the UK.

All of these initiatives combine to help us generate better outcomes when it comes to safer gambling.

For instance, our UK and Irish safer gambling teams review more than 11,000 customer accounts flagged by our technology each month.

They manage automated safer gambling interactions with an average of 82,000 customers a month and proactively apply restrictions, such as deposit limits, to more than 2,000 accounts using data-led insights.

Back in 2001, this level of customer engagement was frankly impossible, but technology has completely changed how we are able to approach this key issue nowadays.

We know there is always more to do.

But we are committed to protecting our customers and building our position as the most responsible betting business in Britain.

Thankfully, with sharper data and more advanced technology on our side, we’re able to deliver.

Steve Birch is Chief Commercial Officer of Sky Betting & Gaming