London-listed gaming operator Rank Group has launched a new real-time safer gambling monitoring tool to detect changes in player behaviour.

Hawkeye is part of the company’s continued roll out of safer gambling measures and follows significant investment in Rank’s customer support hub to swiftly identify online customer behaviour that may require intervention.

The initiative will focus in particular on high-velocity players who show sudden changes in gameplay and who may not be identified by existing safer gambling controls and thresholds.

“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,” said Rank Group director of customer services Liam Smith.

“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 Safer Gambling and that can only be good for players in terms of delivering the optimal levels of protection.”

The Hawkeye system adds to Rank’s suite of safer gambling enhancements rolled out in recent years, including around-the-clock customer monitoring since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and an increase in the number of colleagues dedicated to player protection across its Grosvenor casino and Mecca bingo venues.

“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,” continued Smith. “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,” he added. “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.”

Shares in Rank Group plc (LSE:RNK) closed 1.97 per cent lower at 179.00 pence per share in London Thursday.