Rank to deploy real-time ‘Hawkeye’ system as part of Safer Gambling rollout

THE RANK Group have developed an innovative real-time safer gambling monitoring desk as part of the Group’s continued roll-out of safer gambling measures. 

The Grosvenor casino and Mecca bingo owner has invested significantly in the firm’s Customer support hub in order to identify, more swiftly, customer online behaviour that may require interventions, building on real-time player monitoring that has been underway for a number of years.

The initiative places particular focus on high-velocity players who show player behaviour changes, often suddenly, and who might not be picked up by existing safer gambling controls and thresholds.   

Liam Smith, Director of Customer Services at Rank, said: “We’ve made significant strides using artificial intelligence to power our propensity model which looks to identify potential gambling-related harm, and we’ve also refined our digital affordability framework to assess customers at every stage of their time with us, from registration, through to deposit and withdrawal. We’re well aware that this work will never be complete, but we’ve upped the pace of our innovation and deployment in terms of SG and that can only be good for players in terms of delivering the optimal levels of protection.”

“We’re very aware that high-velocity play is an area of concern and that’s why we stepped up our focus on addressing this issue over the course of the last year. We are determined to give customers the safest possible experience with us when they play across our digital brands and the Hawkeye system adds another layer of protection to our full suite of safer gambling measures across the business.

“The inspiration comes from trading desks which are able to monitor incoming transactions as they happen. We wanted to better identify changes in behaviour, as close to real-time as is possible, in order to ensure we can support those customers, where appropriate. We’ve been building the desk over a considerable period of time and it will continue to be refined as we improve our understanding of player behavioural change.”

In recent years, Rank have initiated a suite of safer gambling enhancements, based in their Customer support hub, including around-the-clock customer monitoring since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a significant increase in the number of colleagues dedicated to delivering player protection across the Group’s venues and digital brands.