Fans of gambling are well aware that playing at online casinos to take for example https://ukcasinosnotgamstop.com/ promises them and a pleasant pastime, and exciting gameplay, and worthy winnings. But not everything goes so well, because if you get it wrong, you might as well not only lose all your money, but also become a real victim of gambling addiction.
In today’s online gambling industry, gambling addiction has become one of the biggest problems of virtual casinos. The fact is that the wide availability of gaming content makes it too difficult for many gamblers to control their gambling habits. This, in fact, leads players to unfortunate consequences.
Introduction of the Gamstop system
The first country to officially start tackling gambling addiction was the UK. According to the UK National Health Service, up to 400,000 local people suffer from some form of gambling addiction and require help.
That’s why Britain has developed a government-run self-exclusion programme called Gamstop, which provides an opportunity to limit gamblers’ time at online casinos as much as possible. It is completely free to its members and works with all UK Gambling Commission-licensed gaming portals.
Membership is voluntary and in the first six months about 40,000 people have expressed a desire to join the system. GamStop gives UK gamblers the ability to exclude themselves from any virtual gambling establishment after just one registration. If a player wishes, access to any gambling establishment connected to the system can be completely blocked for a period of six months to five years.
What restrictions can be imposed on players at Gamstop?
In addition to self-exclusion a player can also use a variety of other methods should he feel that his gambling problem is getting the better of his senses and self-control.
Most often, such limits are specific to each online casino, which means that various restrictions chosen by the gamers at any given gaming portal will only apply to it. This greatly reduces their effectiveness, as it is not at all difficult to circumvent deposit limits at a single gambling establishment. All a player has to do to circumvent it is to start playing on a different site.
But this is where the exceptions to the rule come into play. Some online casino groups apply responsible gaming measures across the board. This means that if a player decides to self-exclude from a particular casino that is part of a group, the player will lose the ability to play at other casinos. Each such group works individually, so this rule does not always work.
Below we will try to list the main types of restrictions imposed on players.
Deposit limits
If a player wants to limit their access to the game, they have the option of setting a deposit limit so that they can control their expenses as they play. As a result, a player can only deposit a certain amount during a specified period of time.
The following options are available to gamers in the Gamstop system:
- 1 day;
- 1 week;
- 1 month;
If there is a desire to set a limit on the deposit, it will be triggered instantly. The same will happen when it is lowered. The decision to increase the limit to deposit more money will not work immediately and may take 1 to 7 days.
Loss limits
Most gambling houses allow you to limit the amount you lose over a period of time. This is similar to how deposit limits work but it also applies to money that has already been deposited while deposit limits only apply to new deposits.
Periods of loss limits are similar to and fully replicate the deposit limits.
Calculation methods may vary, but usually a net loss limit is used as a basis, which takes into account how much the player managed to win back during the selected time period and how much he has won. The net loss limit then limits the amount of money in the account to a specific amount within a given time frame.
Win Losing Limit
This is similar to the previous limits with a limit on the amount of wagering you can do in a given period. It is not affected by winnings or losses in this situation at all.
Limits on how long you can play
Some online gaming portals have a minimum game time limit which allows a player to play for a pre-determined length of time within a set time frame. Once the runtime limit is reached a player cannot continue playing for as long as they are still eligible to play but they will be able to log in to their lobby to make transactions for example.
Limit on betting amounts
If a player does not want to be blocked from playing and depositing, he can limit the betting amount by using a betting limit. Once such a limit has been imposed the gambler cannot place larger bets.
Blocking an account
Another way to end irrevocably is to block your own account completely. In real life, this doesn’t happen very often and locking an account without being able to unlock it later can be a difficult task.
All online casinos should have such a feature, but some of them try to make the process as difficult as possible. In addition, by and large, it can be unblocked by contacting customer support.