I have no shame in admitting that on 26th April I signed up to GAMSTOP to take a break from gambling. Why? Well, I see gambling like a box of chocolates - lovely temptation to partake of every day, very enjoyable but is not good for health/wealth if such a regular enjoyment! I was more a fun size mars bar person instead of going all out on the king size version!
I queried myself a few times whether I have a problem with gambling, but knowing I wasn't gambling to excess and getting into debt and was able to withdraw winnings without feeling the need to play to the last penny and lose, I reassured myself it was under control. Then I had a big win and thought it was a good time to take a break for 6 months, enjoy the money and avoid temptation of playing with bigger bets now I had surplus funds.
So, I registered with GAMSTOP. As I had various casino accounts scattered about, this seemed a great tool to do a blanket sweep and remove all temptations.
GAMSTOP advised me that all casino accounts from participating sites would be excluded within 24 hours of registration. As registration involves verifying your request via personal details on your credit file, I knew everything was correct and sorted. Besides, each casino account I opened had exactly the same registration details - e-mail address, telephone numbers, address, name, etc. I tried logging in to a couple of accounts the following day and hey presto, they were blocked and GAMSTOP appears to work!
Anyway, a week after registering at GAMSTOP I had an e-mail come through from Videoslots about some battles. I thought spam would stop once excluded, so tried logging in to Videoslots and my account was open and operational. My first thought was that Videoslots weren't participating at GAMSTOP (especially since the GAMSTOP logo isn't shown on their home page), so with some spare time on my hands I made a few deposits and lost, but easily passed the £500 limit to qualify for the freeroll battles as well as building up some casino race winnings and weekend booster funds. It was at this point curiosity got the better of me and I checked whether they do participate by sending a message to VS support. I received a quick reply only to be told they do participate and have now blocked my account. I queried why my account was open to receive deposits given I had registered a week ago, but they still have not replied adequately, only telling me my query has been passed to someone else. So they were more than happy in taking deposits, then blocking me from cash back, freeroll battles and casino race winnings! Makes me wonder whether any potential withdrawal would have been paid as well or simply confiscated ......
I found out that Marathon Bet don't currently participate at GAMSTOP, so play there with small infrequent deposits (£10 every few days) which tides me over as I do find slots fun, so the the slogan 'When the fun stops, Stop' doesn't really apply to me!
I thought I would find out what other accounts were open/operational and not participating. Great to see the blanket sweep blocking the accounts (especially as that should stop most spam), but stumbled across my account at GoWild which was open late last night/early hours of this morning. As I had been good recently, thought I would have a little session but it didn't go too well! It didn't bother me too much as I knew my luck of late would run out.
After my session I revisit the GAMSTOP website (still curious about the VS scenario) and found a menu option in the bottom right hand side of the page which contains all participating companies. To my surprise, GoWild was on there, despite me just playing there. So I fired off a quick but polite message to them asking if my account was ok to be open given the registration at GAMSTOP.
Then I was surprised by the bullshit which came my way!
They replied at 9.41am saying my details are not on the GAMSTOP database and that I am not self excluded there. They then say that per their social responsibility commitment, they are self excluding me for the maximum of 5 years - no reason why as I had not suggested I was a problem gambler in any way, shape or form.
I received a further e-mail from them at 10.28am saying that they have now received details from GAMSTOP and that is the reason I am now self excluded with them. Supposedly I was ok to deposit and play just 9 hours previous because they hadn't been notified of my exclusion which was registered 2 weeks previously!!!
Sorry, but this is complete bullshit!!! If they blocked my account further to being notified by GAMSTOP between 9.42am and 10.27am to exclude me, why did they do it for 5 years and not the 6 months I requested? And again they went on suggesting my details didn't tally up, which is totally crap!
So, does GAMSTOP work? Well, the idea is good, but clearly they are having teething problems and the service cannot be relied up. Especially if casinos are open to abusing the situation and accepting deposits, then miraculously being told about the exclusion at GAMSTOP and removing funds and paid up bonuses!
Sorry for the waffle. Think I might just have to stick with the chocolate instead!
I queried myself a few times whether I have a problem with gambling, but knowing I wasn't gambling to excess and getting into debt and was able to withdraw winnings without feeling the need to play to the last penny and lose, I reassured myself it was under control. Then I had a big win and thought it was a good time to take a break for 6 months, enjoy the money and avoid temptation of playing with bigger bets now I had surplus funds.
So, I registered with GAMSTOP. As I had various casino accounts scattered about, this seemed a great tool to do a blanket sweep and remove all temptations.
GAMSTOP advised me that all casino accounts from participating sites would be excluded within 24 hours of registration. As registration involves verifying your request via personal details on your credit file, I knew everything was correct and sorted. Besides, each casino account I opened had exactly the same registration details - e-mail address, telephone numbers, address, name, etc. I tried logging in to a couple of accounts the following day and hey presto, they were blocked and GAMSTOP appears to work!
Anyway, a week after registering at GAMSTOP I had an e-mail come through from Videoslots about some battles. I thought spam would stop once excluded, so tried logging in to Videoslots and my account was open and operational. My first thought was that Videoslots weren't participating at GAMSTOP (especially since the GAMSTOP logo isn't shown on their home page), so with some spare time on my hands I made a few deposits and lost, but easily passed the £500 limit to qualify for the freeroll battles as well as building up some casino race winnings and weekend booster funds. It was at this point curiosity got the better of me and I checked whether they do participate by sending a message to VS support. I received a quick reply only to be told they do participate and have now blocked my account. I queried why my account was open to receive deposits given I had registered a week ago, but they still have not replied adequately, only telling me my query has been passed to someone else. So they were more than happy in taking deposits, then blocking me from cash back, freeroll battles and casino race winnings! Makes me wonder whether any potential withdrawal would have been paid as well or simply confiscated ......
I found out that Marathon Bet don't currently participate at GAMSTOP, so play there with small infrequent deposits (£10 every few days) which tides me over as I do find slots fun, so the the slogan 'When the fun stops, Stop' doesn't really apply to me!
I thought I would find out what other accounts were open/operational and not participating. Great to see the blanket sweep blocking the accounts (especially as that should stop most spam), but stumbled across my account at GoWild which was open late last night/early hours of this morning. As I had been good recently, thought I would have a little session but it didn't go too well! It didn't bother me too much as I knew my luck of late would run out.
After my session I revisit the GAMSTOP website (still curious about the VS scenario) and found a menu option in the bottom right hand side of the page which contains all participating companies. To my surprise, GoWild was on there, despite me just playing there. So I fired off a quick but polite message to them asking if my account was ok to be open given the registration at GAMSTOP.
Then I was surprised by the bullshit which came my way!
They replied at 9.41am saying my details are not on the GAMSTOP database and that I am not self excluded there. They then say that per their social responsibility commitment, they are self excluding me for the maximum of 5 years - no reason why as I had not suggested I was a problem gambler in any way, shape or form.
I received a further e-mail from them at 10.28am saying that they have now received details from GAMSTOP and that is the reason I am now self excluded with them. Supposedly I was ok to deposit and play just 9 hours previous because they hadn't been notified of my exclusion which was registered 2 weeks previously!!!
Sorry, but this is complete bullshit!!! If they blocked my account further to being notified by GAMSTOP between 9.42am and 10.27am to exclude me, why did they do it for 5 years and not the 6 months I requested? And again they went on suggesting my details didn't tally up, which is totally crap!
So, does GAMSTOP work? Well, the idea is good, but clearly they are having teething problems and the service cannot be relied up. Especially if casinos are open to abusing the situation and accepting deposits, then miraculously being told about the exclusion at GAMSTOP and removing funds and paid up bonuses!
Sorry for the waffle. Think I might just have to stick with the chocolate instead!