Not implementing GAMSTOP could cost licence

Online gambling websites seeking regulation, or already registered with the United Kingdom Gambling Commission could risk their licence if they do not implement GAMSTOP within their services it was reported today.

In order to hold and retain a licence, there are various regulations that must be complied with to promote safe gambling practices as roulettepro.com reports. 

The free service GAMSTOP was introduced to allow players to limit their own play by implementing temporary bans to their accounts. There has been some question over whether the concept actually works, but since its launch in April 2018, 50,000 people have signed up voluntarily.

For the operators of casinos, the decision to promote participation and sign up themselves has been something they did not have to do, but the UKGC has suggested it might be time to crack down and make registration of providers a mandatory part of licensing. 

As yet no official decision has been made, but there is expected to be a formal announcement within the next week or so. It seems as if the UKGC were sorting faults within the system before pushing it as a must-have compliance. There were loopholes within the process with users simply opening new accounts using misspellings of the name they had previously excluded.

This has been tightened up and included stricter age verification which coincided with new requirements on age validation that came into play earlier in the year. Now providers must carry out age and ID verification before accounts are cleared for use. In theory, this does help to prevent fake accounts being opened, so it immediately improves GAMSTOP. 

Once a user has self-excluded, they will find it impossible to sign up to other sites using fake credentials, but nothing will stop them using unregulated platforms which of course could make any problems worse.

This issue currently has no resolution, but for sites within the remit of the UKGC at least things should improve. Once the expected ruling is confirmed no site in the UK or register for players in the UK will be able to get out of GAMSTOP. Of course, for most casinos and bookmakers this is not an issue, and most of the big names have already voluntarily signed up.

In fact, a lot of big providers have their own play limiting tools and also sign up to other agencies that help players who find their gambling habit has become hard to control. In the meantime, players are encouraged to look for casinos that are already signed up and consider how they can ensure they play within their means.

This could mean setting a budget, limiting the number of games per day and remembering that casino games, and indeed betting are games of chance and while winning is possible, so is losing. Chasing losses by becoming convinced a win is due is a sure-fire way to develop gambling problems. Players are also advised to sign up to and familiarise themselves with GAMSTOP.