London-listed betting and gaming operator Flutter Entertainment has launched a new spending backstop of £500 per month for customers under the age of 25 years across three of its UK and Ireland-facing brands.
The new policy has been designed to further enhance protections for younger customers and encourage sensible spending across its platforms, and prevents any customer under the age of 25 years from spending beyond £500 per month in net deposits across Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Betting & Gaming in the UK and Ireland.
For the small number of customers who can demonstrate income to sustain an increased level of spend, they will need to go through a detailed process before an alternative limit is set.
The deposit backstop is part of Flutter’s Affordability Triple Step, a risk-based framework which uses real-time data to monitor player activity and behaviours to ensure that gambling remains safe and enjoyable for customers.
“We are continuously looking at ways we can enhance protections for our customers, particularly those who are young or may be vulnerable,” said Flutter UK & Ireland CEO Conor Grant. “People under the age of 25 are likely to be experiencing a number of significant life changes, such as gaining independence for the first time and learning how to manage their finances.
“We want anyone who decides to gamble when they come of age to get in the habit of setting sensible spending limits and this measure is the latest we are introducing to help make this happen.”
Polling of regular gamblers, commissioned by Flutter, has shown that there is widespread support across all age groups for additional measures to protect and support younger people, with 77 per cent of regular gamblers approving overall. Support for additional measures amongst 18- 24 year-olds polled at 78 per cent.
“We will be sharing our thinking and data with the Government and hope this new measure helps in terms of providing further ideas, evidence and potential solutions as it continues its review of the gambling legislation,” continued Grant. “The review provides a once in a generation opportunity to bring gambling rules into the digital age, and while we believe that the changes it will bring are critical, we won’t wait to implement ground-breaking policies that will make a difference for our customers.”
The company added that the new policy supports wider steps the industry has already taken over the past twelve months to enhance protections for younger customers.
This includes using Adtech to avoid targeting under 25s in ‘paid for’ social media channels, using specific age markers on data models, developing bespoke thresholds based on age and introducing a requirement that gambling ads appearing on search engines must make it clear that they are for those aged 18 and over.
Shares in Flutter Entertainment plc (LSE:FLTR) were trading marginally lower by 0.51 per cent at 14,505.00 pence per share in London earlier Monday.