Are we being treated like children?

[9HOURSAWAY]

I'm getting a bit tired of the hoops you are now required to jump through in order to play at an online casino in the UK.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the need for casinos to protect themselves against dirty money and accusations of contributing to ruining players lifes, but as an example, just recently I had a pop up when logging on to Unibet saying their systems had detected I had had a very long session of playing throughout the night and early morning and was I happy with my level of play?...Well yes, I was (and am ) happy as I was on a really lucky streak and as I had no work the next day I decided to stay up and play. I made that decision as an adult and I wish they (and by that I mean most if not all casinos) would treat us like adults, after all we've already had to send in photo ID, Utility bill, photo of deposit card and bank statement for Christs sake, and now when I play at Unibet (a casino I love to play at btw) I feel like are there going to be repercussions if I play high stakes for a session, or start low and then go all in for maybe the last ten spins, or play for 6 or 7 hours straight? will this action be seen as reckless and trigger their 'systems' leading to another exchange of emails before I can play next? and I'm not singling out Unibet, as I say,I think they are a good place to play, I just used the above as an example

I am all for responsible gambling of course, but I just think the pendulum is swinging a bit too far at the moment on nannying players..........But maybe it's just me?.......What are your thoughts on the subject, do you agree?, or do you think the casinos are just being sensible and I'm overreacting?

 

[Kroffe]

I'm getting a bit tired of the hoops you are now required to jump through in order to play at an online casino in the UK.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the need for casinos to protect themselves against dirty money and accusations of contributing to ruining players lifes, but as an example, just recently I had a pop up when logging on to Unibet saying their systems had detected I had had a very long session of playing throughout the night and early morning and was I happy with my level of play?...Well yes, I was (and am ) happy as I was on a really lucky streak and as I had no work the next day I decided to stay up and play. I made that decision as an adult and I wish they (and by that I mean most if not all casinos) would treat us like adults, after all we've already had to send in photo ID, Utility bill, photo of deposit card and bank statement for Christs sake, and now when I play at Unibet (a casino I love to play at btw) I feel like are there going to be repercussions if I play high stakes for a session, or start low and then go all in for maybe the last ten spins, or play for 6 or 7 hours straight? will this action be seen as reckless and trigger their 'systems' leading to another exchange of emails before I can play next? and I'm not singling out Unibet, as I say,I think they are a good place to play, I just used the above as an example

I am all for responsible gambling of course, but I just think the pendulum is swinging a bit too far at the moment on nannying players..........But maybe it's just me?.......What are your thoughts on the subject, do you agree?, or do you think the casinos are just being sensible and I'm overreacting?

Its not the casinos, its the shitty regulation.
Regulation is vague on purpose, making it real hard for casinos to know what&how much they need to do to avoid fines.
So they go overboard to keep their backs clear.

If the aim of regulations were to actually help&proctect players and not just as a way to get a share of that sweet gambling pie, things would be alot better.
Does not help that the people making the rules know jack-shit about how online gambling works.
If they did 92% rtp would never be allowed.

 

[Mr_Slot5]

Its not the casinos, its the shitty regulation.
Regulation is vague on purpose, making it real hard for casinos to know what&how much they need to do to avoid fines.
So they go overboard to keep their backs clear.

If the aim of regulations were to actually help&proctect players and not just as a way to get a share of that sweet gambling pie, things would be alot better.
Does not help that the people making the rules know jack-shit about how online gambling works.
If they did 92% rtp would never be allowed.

This 100%

I think there's a few on here that would appreciate a sit down conversation with the UKGC for example.

 

[pinnit2014]

Its not the casinos, its the shitty regulation.
Regulation is vague on purpose, making it real hard for casinos to know what&how much they need to do to avoid fines.
So they go overboard to keep their backs clear.

If the aim of regulations were to actually help&proctect players and not just as a way to get a share of that sweet gambling pie, things would be alot better.
Does not help that the people making the rules know jack-shit about how online gambling works.
If they did 92% rtp would never be allowed.

A lot of legal regulations follow the same route - what usually happens is that when they're passed they sometimes add the caveat of publicising guidance on the back of them for folk to follow etc - and sometimes that works well (the ancillary guidance tending to be in layman's terms). In my work however, we're still waiting (for eg) on the Scottish Government to provide clarity on several of theirs (3 years later) - result is everyone of our clients is doing different things, based on their interpretation of it (I understand why regulations are written as they are). Makes it hard for us in trying to have a stand position on certain things as everyone of them goes 'Ah But....'

I'm not entirely convinced the bulk of the blame for a lot of the differences though in the practices of casinos lies squarely with the regulator but what could be a half way house solution would be for each casino (be it for AML/RG) to have their processes and procedures provisionally approved by the GC - if they follow them, for example, they've discharged their duty (regardless of whether a subsequent fraud is uncovered) - I don't know..but least casinos will know where they stand - having said that, if you look at some of the fines dished out to casino's it's for very basic stuff (AML wise) - no procedures, no risk assessment, no MLRO, MLRO not qualified - now, that's not the GC's fault, that's just incompetence on the part of the casino.

RG to be fair is a bit more subjective, as in the OP, so it does probably lend itself to a bit more bashing of heads to see what's expected of casinos. What's the chances of someone in the GC Board meeting saying 'Yeah, I was chasing the D on Bonanza and those pop ups were pissing me off more than getting a 44x on 22 spins'

 

[shadow123]

Its getting worse all the time,had a month from hell with suspensions after doing absolutely nothing
wrong,everything you do is being monitored to make sure you play as the UKGC think you should.
The casinos are having to go overboard to prevent massive fines for not complying with all
the shit they has been heaped on them.The UKGC will definately kill the uk market, the next
thing will be £2 max stakes.
Sick of it all,really think I will be packing up online gaming after 20 years, just not worth the hassle,

 

[Kroffe]

A lot of legal regulations follow the same route - what usually happens is that when they're passed they sometimes add the caveat of publicising guidance on the back of them for folk to follow etc - and sometimes that works well (the ancillary guidance tending to be in layman's terms). In my work however, we're still waiting (for eg) on the Scottish Government to provide clarity on several of theirs (3 years later) - result is everyone of our clients is doing different things, based on their interpretation of it (I understand why regulations are written as they are). Makes it hard for us in trying to have a stand position on certain things as everyone of them goes 'Ah But....'

I'm not entirely convinced the bulk of the blame for a lot of the differences though in the practices of casinos lies squarely with the regulator but what could be a half way house solution would be for each casino (be it for AML/RG) to have their processes and procedures provisionally approved by the GC - if they follow them, for example, they've discharged their duty (regardless of whether a subsequent fraud is uncovered) - I don't know..but least casinos will know where they stand - having said that, if you look at some of the fines dished out to casino's it's for very basic stuff (AML wise) - no procedures, no risk assessment, no MLRO, MLRO not qualified - now, that's not the GC's fault, that's just incompetence on the part of the casino.

RG to be fair is a bit more subjective, as in the OP, so it does probably lend itself to a bit more bashing of heads to see what's expected of casinos. What's the chances of someone in the GC Board meeting saying 'Yeah, I was chasing the D on Bonanza and those pop ups were pissing me off more than getting a 44x on 22 spins'

Yeah, im not all anti-regulation.
I think the market needs regulation, and i can absolutely see why the swedish/english government want a piece of the gambling-money aswell.
All that money just leaves the country otherwise.

Just seems to me like alot was mashed together rather quickly, and alot of things that could be done to improve things for players have not been implemented.
I moan about the bonus-ban from time to time, but i honestly dont think that move did much to help problem gamblers.
It was more like they felt they needed to be seen doing something, so they cracked down hard on bonuses, screwing over all the players who dont have issues in the process.

 

[Kroffe]

Best&worst example is probably the sow-checks.
Every casino does it different, i mean whats up with that.
How can there not be a clear guideline to follow on that.

 

[9HOURSAWAY]

Its getting worse all the time,had a month from hell with suspensions after doing absolutely nothing
wrong,everything you do is being monitored to make sure you play as the UKGC think you should.
The casinos are having to go overboard to prevent massive fines for not complying with all
the shit they has been heaped on them.The UKGC will definately kill the uk market, the next
thing will be £2 max stakes.
Sick of it all,really think I will be packing up online gaming after 20 years, just not worth the hassle,

If they bring in max £2.00 stakes I'll almost certainly not bother anymore as the thrill would be gone for me, although I suppose I could put through a few thousand spins at £1.80 on Dead or Alive 2 as that could pay huge, but I'd probably die of boredom in the meantime!

 

[DreamRJ]

I pretty much get weekly emails from VS asking me to confirm I am in control etc etc. It is frustrating but it is the new normal in the UK now. So we just have to get used to it I am afraid.

 

[Davey86]

Best&worst example is probably the sow-checks.
Every casino does it different, i mean whats up with that.
How can there not be a clear guideline to follow on that.

Their is a clear guideline they follow the follow their own guidelines that make it as hard as possible

 

[Kroffe]

Their is a clear guideline they follow the follow their own guidelines that make it as hard as possible

Yeah, its like they are having a competition to see who can make it into the worst experience for the player.
Casumo currently way ahead of its competitors.

 

[Davey86]

Yeah, its like they are having a competition to see who can make it into the worst experience for the player.
Casumo currently way ahead of its competitors.

All other casinos waiting until they have all disgruntled players signed up from CaSOWmo then they will start using the casumo model

 

[Slottery]

RG monitoring is one thing where regulators can show way how and when casinos should be acting and what should be spotting. When you attend to these always pleasant RG trainings, updates, catchups what ever.. which are kept by private companies who are making their materials based on particular regulators and when your staff have completed these, you should be happy and good to go.

It just at least some of these are kind of over protecting IMO in their approach, just like OP mentioned, playing long session overnight, yes can happen if you keep you good luck and your deposit last, you don't have work next day, why not.. But it seems that now it start to be standard that when your login time exceed X hours, you will be contacted (which feels like wtf, i know what i do, stop nannying me) and asked if you are ok, in this stage many problem gamblers probably would answer, yes i am. If playing overnight start to be something frequent, amounts spent remarkable etc.. then of course there is again question, how this affect players normal life? If you for example know that person is working office hours (from SOW or just something internet tells you) then that person might be in risk. Also if somebody who is working office hours, like layer who usually get quite ok money from what they are doing, that should be possible sign of problem if person is playing sessions middle of the day there and there, when ever can etc...

Some of these RG "lessons" basically IMO keep making sure that only 0.1% of players have low risk to have any gambling problems, most are falling to medium risk and then some part high. If these could be somehow agreed that where these lines should be taken that players responsibility is removed to casinos, it would decrease these interactions. Mostly these are quite useless, like OP stated, they ask are you ok, you raply yes, case closed, casino can log that interaction with player done.

Of course keeping these RG trainings for all casino staff (different level depending your posession) is quite good business as well so understand they want to be very specific and show you that almost everyone can be problem gambler (like that example that somebody might be playing during their working hours...wtf). Same goes with other compliance/regulation trainings, these just start to feel that they just are there that you get your printed diploma and whole staff have completed it, but benefits are not that great what you couldn't learn in your inhouse training from your more experienced colleague or trainer.

One thing what these increased amounts of interactions you can get from your long session or other reasons have created is complaints from players that "You didn't see clear marks that i can't control my gambling, i made several deposits in short time, played over nights etc etc..." casino haven't done enough to stop me from playing

IMO, adults should be let gamble and these RG actions should take place when there really start to be some extreme behavior, make it around same point when your local pub stop serving you drinks, it's usually not happen when you occasionally are more drunk than usually or start drinkin early on Saturday because there is footie on tv etc..

 

[9HOURSAWAY]

Yeah, its like they are having a competition to see who can make it into the worst experience for the player.
Casumo currently way ahead of its competitors.

I ended up telling Casumo to stick it and closed my account, I also closed my account at VS too. It was a shame, especially closing my VS account as they were such fast payers, and both casinos are right up there in terms of choice of games... But.... The constant requests for this and that just wore me down and I didn't feel like a loyal customer anymore, but more like someone who should feel grateful to be able to play there as long as I kept meeting their demands...Fuck that... I voted with my feet and walked...