As the number of online gamblers is growing, the number of addicted and problem gamblers is getting bigger as well. These days, this number measures in millions and experts are figuring out various methods to help these people with their addiction. Many methods have been practiced over the years but somehow, self-exclusion remains among the popular and, more importantly, among the most effective ones.
A self-exclusion is a process where you ask a certain operator to exclude you from gambling at a certain house for a set length of time. According to UK laws, every casino operator must have this service in the offer.
The problem with this is that you can always play games on other websites, so experts have created a universal service, which excludes you from all online casinos operators in the country. That service is called Gamstop.
What is Gamstop?
Gamstop is a new service in the offer. It is an independent, completely free service, which allows you to self-exclude from online gambling. The thing with this service is that it excludes you from every online casino that has a license and operates in the UK. In other words, once you register on this service, you won’t be able to gamble on any website that operates in the UK.
Moreover, last month it became a regulatory requirement for all online gambling companies licensed in Great Britain to participate in the scheme.
How to Self-Exclude With Gamstop?
Things are pretty easy and straightforward with this service. The first thing you need to do is to register. That’s a quite easy and simple process, which takes just a couple of minutes. Of course, you will need to provide a couple of personal details in order to prove your identity. This includes things like date of birth, postcode, email address etc. It usually takes less than 24 hours to become effective.
What Happens After Registration?
After you’re done with the registration, you will be asked to choose the length of your self-exclusion program. You can choose between 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. An important thing to know is that there is no way (at least legal one) to cancel this program.
Once the chosen period expires, your self-exclusion program won’t end automatically. You will have to visit the website and ask it to be removed.
Another thing that comes to mind is what will happen with the funds on accounts of an online casino website. The fact is that Gamstop won’t initiate the return of withdrawable funds automatically. Instead, you will have to contact the operator directly and request your funds. Gamstop is not responsible for these funds, so it’s up to casino operators to give you a refund. In any case, your funds will remain on your account despite it has been put on hold. So, in the worst case, you will be able to withdraw your funds once the self-exclusion period expires.
Is It Possible To Stop Gamstop While Still Being On Self-Exclusion?
Generally, it’s not possible to end self-exclusion before your chosen period expires, though there is one exception. You can contact the customer support and ask them to cancel your self-exclusion if you think it was implemented by mistake. In practice, this is very hard to do, as you will have to offer all kinds of pieces of evidence to support your request, while your convincing skills would have to be extraordinary.
How About Drawbacks?
Like any other thing, this service also has drawbacks. The first one that comes to mind is that this service works only with online casinos that have the license. On the other side, anyone can play on abroad websites, whether he’s self-excluded or not. Also, those who know a little bit more about internet security, and computers in general, can use VPN services and similar things. Finally, problem gamblers can always ask for assistance from family members and friends, in order to avoid this self-exclusion program.