Help and advice needed please

[gilly]

A long story that I will try to keep brief.

I am currently supporting a compulsive gambler, many, many thousands of pounds have been lost.

After staying clear for many months (I installed gamblock) my friend succumbed to the urge one Saturday evening and spent all night playing. The next morning she rang and asked for her account to be closed, she was asked why and told the operator that she was a compulsive gambler. He told her the account would be closed within a couple of hours.

Shortly after this she then received a phone call from her VIP manager. He said “we don’t want you to close your account, you are a very good player, but just haven’t been able to win and cash out as we have not had your documents.” Send me copies of your documents and I will put £200 into your account straight away. We want you to win and you can win, and if you send the documents you will be able to cash out easily”.

She said she couldn’t copy and send her documents, as she didn’t have a scanner. He told her “that he would explain how she could do it with a digital camera and would stay on the line explaining the process until she had done so.”

She kept stating that all she wanted to do was close my account, as she was a compulsive gambler, but he urged her to send him the documents and encouraged her to play with the £200. Being a compulsive gambler, her resolve was weak, instead of being able to be firm and insist he closed her account, she allowed him to persuade her to continue gambling. Since that time she has been back to the casino and lost several more thousand pounds.

I have contacted the casino to ask to speak to someone in authority, but all I got back was an email as follows (identifiers have been removed):-

Thank you for having contacted us at xxx. I have received your email and I sympathize with your situation, I wish to inform you that your xxxx account has now been closed and disabled, as per your request.

xxxx takes the issue of responsible gaming very seriously and is committed to providing a responsible gaming environment to all our players.

There are many organizations that can provide support and assistance to individuals who develop a problem with gambling. If you feel this has happened to you we recommend visiting the Gamblers Anonymous UK website by clicking here. I believe that they are much better equipped to handle your situation than we ever could be!

Scratching Cards are fun. However, if you have found yourself with a compulsive gambling problem please seek professional help.

xxxx is committed to CARE - Customers Are Really Everything.
If you have any questions or concerns, we are available 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Please do not hesitate to contact the xxxx Team.

I have emailed back stating that I wish to speak to someone in authority and that I have been in touch with the Lotteries and Gaming Authority in Malta and looking at some of the conditions for their licence it appears that they have contravened them.

What else can I do?

Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

[rockycatt]

i know this is a deep problem , heres one sugestion ask her/him to accompany you to a G. A. meeting

if theres a better idea please chime im
rockycatt

[felicie]

This is one good reason why Frank's online gambling bill should be passed. There would be regulators and watch groups set up to oversee this very problem. Thank you

[vegetagirl2008]

What you must do is to cut-off their cash flow. Take their cards from them. If they have any accounts open @ any other casino close those as well. See some casinos bait them to deposit more money I wish I knew which casino this was they ought to be ashamed of themselves for baiting her like this. Willingly she told them she had a gambling problem and yet they urged her to submit documents so they can add cash to her account. Then she lost more on top of it.

What you need to do is get them some help, like all addictions you need to be willful to want to get better. You have to admit you have a problem and you want help. You cannot do this for her, she has to want to do this on her own. There are plenty of Gamblers Anonymous programs she can participate in, but she has to admit she has a problem and is willing to get help. If you keep enabling her she will never quit.

This is a serious problem like all addictions, but there is help.

[slotheadlizard]

Hey Gilly, Welcome to the forum. I think that is outrageous what the casino manager did. They should have simply closed the account straight away. Unbelievable! Of course the previous posters are right about getting your friend help. As far as getting into contact with the casino itself, it may take a little more work.
First you may try to see if the casino is on the listed Casinomeister pages. Even some of the rogues have a contact person. Did you try their chat service, not all have them either. Its apparent you don't want to name the casino, but if you do maybe someone on the forum can assist you. Why protect a place like that? They should be ashamed.

Good Luck to you and your friend.

[doomed4ever]

If what you say is what happend (dont doubt it at all ) then this is utterly disgracfull behavior from a casino. It would be good to know the name of the casino. Any casino or group should block instantly at a players request no matter what the reason. When a long while back I wanted a break the likes such as 32red etc never questioned at all my request for closure and implimented my request within an hour. Same goes for 3dice with no questions asked - just account closed for the period I requested. Wish you and your freind the best of luck with all this.

[Webzcas]

Please name the casino. I and many others would very much like to know who it was. The actions of the VIP Manager are totally unacceptable and no reputable casino would or should act in the way this casino did.

If you are unwilling to name the casino publically then please can you send a PM to either Bryan ( CasinoMeister ) or Max naming the casino.

I cannot stress enough how irresponsible this casino operator has been. If ANY online casino is informed by one of their customers that they have a gambling problem, then the customer's account should be suspended IMMEDIATELY pending necessary information to close the account permanently.

Problem Gambling whilst thankfully only effects a small percentage of people, nevertheless it is a significiant minority and any and all operators need to have the proper policies in place to ensure they act responsibly.

I really do feel for your friend and I truly hope she can get the help she needs to beat this addiction.

Here are a couple of useful links:

http://www.gamcare.com/
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/
http://www.casinomeister.com/online_...urces.php#quit

[Pinababy69]

I completely agree with all of the above posters..shameful behaviour, and I too would like to know which casino this is.

[vinylweatherman]

That VIP manager was far worse than you think. The offer was NOTHING about documents, the reason this player had NOT managed to win & cash out is because they had the gambling problem, and NOT because they hadn't sent in the documents.
What I suspect the VIP manager was hoping for was to give this compulsive gambler the "buzz" of winning and cashing out, whatever it took. THIS would have made the addiction even worse, and FAR harder to beat, as once having had the "buzz" of winning, it would be a matter of chasing the next "fix", no doubt through cleverly crafted offers to ensure a few cashouts were made in the downward losing spiral.

This friend should be encouraged to join this forum, and PAB about this. If this story is true, this kind of behaviour is likely to see the casino offered citizenship of Rogue City.

The Malta LGA have proved pretty weak in enforcing their rules, and seem to take months even to reach the stage of confirming receipt of a complaint.

There is little you can do for your friend if the VIP manager of this casino insists on phoning her and trying to break her will to quit. The only thing that will prevent casinos being able to try this is for your friend to change her email & phone number. Casinos will still try the snail mail, but hopefully such offers can be more easily rejected as they do not carry the "urgency" to make a decision often seen in phone and email offers.

[chuchu59]

Please name the casino. I do hope that it is in the accredited list and if so, we will demand an explanation from the forum rep.