Rank Group unveils ‘Hawkeye’ safer gambling monitoring desk

The operator said the new ‘Hawkeye’ system will allow it to more quickly identify customer online behaviour that may require intervention 

Hawkeye, which will run alongside Rank’s real-time player monitoring that has been in place for a number of years, will focus on very regular players who show behaviour changes that may not be picked up by existing safer gambling controls and thresholds.   

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

“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.

“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.”

Smith said the new system was inspired by trading desks that are able to monitor incoming transactions as they happen, adding that by better identify in changes in behaviour, as close to real-time as possible, this will allow Rank to support those customers.

“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,” Smith added.