The days of being able to gamble away some ridiculously huge amounts of cash at an online casino site without being noticed have long gone, for the UK Gambling Commission have become fully aware that some people do have problems gambling online and they have put steps in place to ensure those at risk of losing huge amounts of cash are somewhat noticed and helped.
One of those steps is the GamStop scheme that is meant to facilitate self-excluding from casinos for all the players that have a gambling problem. Any responsible gambling initiative is only going to be as good as its design, and there is of course the very obvious flaw with GamStop, that being that currently only gambling site operators that are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission are required to become part of that scheme.
Sadly that is something that many people who are trying to stop gambling online find themselves doing and the only way to stop gambling at those casino sites not on GamStop is by having to find out which ones they are on sites like nonukgambling.com then sign up.
What that organisation has put into place recently are a range of initiatives that their license holders have to make available to their customers to allow them to gamble responsibly.
Plus, each casino operator must have in place a system that monitors their real money players and flags up any of them that appear to be spending way more money gambling at their sites than they would usually do.
If you do enjoy gambling online then be aware that when you sign up to any casino site that is licensed in the UK and any other type of gambling site for that matter such as a bingo, poker or even betting site you will be prompted to set yourself a deposit limit.
That is another requirement of the UKGC and as such all sites licensed by them must allow their customers to set a deposit limit to give them the option of setting one and reducing the chances that they will gamble away more money that they may have initially set aside to gamble with.
So, for those of you out there that do gamble online make use of those deposit limit settings is my advice.
Self-Exclude Yourself from All UK Licensed Online Casinos
I want to now look at some ways that anyone out there who does have a gambling related problem can get help and support to kick their gambling habit.
Firstly, if you have come to the decision that a life without gambling is something you are up for then you will need to ensure any and all gambling site accounts that you currently have get closed.
If you sign up to GamStop right now that organisation will make contact with all UK licensed gambling site operators and request on your behalf that your accounts are closed immediately and they will also tell those operators, they are not to allow you to open any new accounts moving forward either.
That service is completely free of charge by the way and will be a good first step for you to make. You should also spend some time looking over the GamCare website too and also consider visiting your local Gamblers Anonymous group meeting to speak to and get additional help and support from those who have been in a similar position to the one you currently find yourself in.
Will Non UK Based Casinos Sign Up to GamStop?
There are no rules or laws in any other country of the world that forces gambling site operators licensed by other Gambling Commissions and Gaming Authorities to become part of that scheme, therefore meaning that anyone who may be on that self-exclusion register is going to be able to register as a new customer of those sites and then go on to make a deposit and gamble.
The problem with attempting to do just that is that there are literally hundreds of not now thousands of gambling sites that are licensed in other parts of the world or possibly are not licensed anywhere, so attempting to self-exclude from every single gambling site in the world is practically impossible.
The only alternative way to never be in a position to be able to sign up to those gambling sites is by making use of a gambling site blocker tool, which can be downloaded onto any mobile or computer, and that software then stops any web browser from accessing such sites, so do keep that in mind if you fear you may be tempted to gambling online at such a site when trying to give up gambling yourself.
