Gamstop, operators refusing to re-open accounts when self-exclusion ends

Pam7122

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It seems that if you register with Gamstop for a temporary period and request to be removed (How to Cancel) from the register you will still not be allowed to access your existing casino accounts. I have spent a chunk of my day arguing with Virgin games who say they have no way to reopen an account because of the block Gamstop puts on the account.

So it seems that by using Gamstop you will permanently lose access to all our your accounts. They do not tell you this when you sign up

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This should not be the case.

You must still be registered as 'excluded' on GamStop, so I would suggest talking directly with them.

Every-time you attempt to login at an online casino, a check is run against the GamStop database. If you are excluded the system will automatically block your login. Even if GamStop emailed me and confirmed you are no longer excluded with them, I still would not have the ability to override the automated check. So something must be going wrong on the GamStop side.

I assume you didn't request to be removed from the register early?
 
It seems that if you register with Gamstop for a temporary period and request to be removed from the register you will still not be allowed to access your existing casino accounts. I have spent a chunk of my day arguing with Virgin games who say they have no way to reopen an account because of the block Gamstop puts on the account.

So it seems that by using Gamstop you will permanently lose access to all our your accounts. They do not tell you this when you sign up

They don't tell you that as it's not how it is supposed to work.
Has your self exclusion period ended? Has the cooling off period after you requested you be removed ended? Have you checked with gamstop you have been removed? If Virgin are correct in saying it is a Gamstop block then you are arguing with the wrong people, they cannot under any circumstance bypass a gamstop block.
It could be Virgin don't want previously self excluded customers playing there.
 
This should not be the case.

You must still be registered as 'excluded' on GamStop, so I would suggest talking directly with them.

Every-time you attempt to login at an online casino, a check is run against the GamStop database. If you are excluded the system will automatically block your login. Even if GamStop emailed me and confirmed you are no longer excluded with them, I still would not have the ability to override the automated check. So something must be going wrong on the GamStop side.

I assume you didn't request to be removed from the register early?

That's not what happens though. When I signed up to Gamstop I got a raft of emails through within 48 hours saying I had excluded from certain casinos so there has to be some that get a constant feed from Gamstop. I found it bizarre as well though tbh.
 
My exclusion period had come to an end. I contacted Gamstop who asked me to call them to confirm I wanted to come off the register. I did and they then said there was a 48 hour cooling off period. Two days later I then received confirmation I was off the register. It has now been two weeks since removal. I tried to log in to various accounts and still blocked. I contacted Virgin who said they could not reopen the account even though they knew I wasnt on the register. They said the "type of removal" Gamstop does cannot be reversed.

This is crazy. I temporarily excluded not because of a serious gambling problem but because I didn't want to be tempted to spend money in the run up to Christmas. I didn't realise I would never have access to my accounts or the loyalty I had built up with the various casinos ever again.
 
Personally i think it is a good idea if casinos still refuse to let people play after Gamstop period has finished.

Gamstop in my opinion is not something that should be took likely and should really be used as a last resort for people who need help in stopping gambling . If i owned a casino and had the choice i would not let players back after it. I would look at it and say well you had such a serious addiction what has changed now. If i let you play how long will it be before the person is in a mess again.

I can seriously see some people soon starting to use Gamstop the way they used self exclusions. Once Their exclusion at Gamstop is over they open accounts again. Once they lose heavily they then start complaining that the casino should never have let them back even tho exclusion is over as they are an addict and the casino knew that since they had been on Gamstop and they are only doing what addicts do and getting a fix now they can again.

I know people will say people use Gamstop for various reasons not just because they are addicted. People used to self exclude for many reasons even because live chat took 5 minutes to answer lol. Now look at the mess these players find themselves in when suddenly their favourite casino joins another group and they are then excluded. Gamstop should be to help you quit gambling for good and no other reason.
 
Personally i think it is a good idea if casinos still refuse to let people play after Gamstop period has finished.

Gamstop in my opinion is not something that should be took likely and should really be used as a last resort for people who need help in stopping gambling . If i owned a casino and had the choice i would not let players back after it. I would look at it and say well you had such a serious addiction what has changed now. If i let you play how long will it be before the person is in a mess again.

I can seriously see some people soon starting to use Gamstop the way they used self exclusions. Once Their exclusion at Gamstop is over they open accounts again. Once they lose heavily they then start complaining that the casino should never have let them back even tho exclusion is over as they are an addict and the casino knew that since they had been on Gamstop and they are only doing what addicts do and getting a fix now they can again.

I know people will say people use Gamstop for various reasons not just because they are addicted. People used to self exclude for many reasons even because live chat took 5 minutes to answer lol. Now look at the mess these players find themselves in when suddenly their favourite casino joins another group and they are then excluded. Gamstop should be to help you quit gambling for good and no other reason.

Well if that is the case, then why give the option to register for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. Surely the only option should be once and for ever!

I am with the OP here.
 
Well if that is the case, then way give the option to register for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. Surely the only option should be once and for ever!

I am with the OP here.

My post had nothing to do with the OP as such.

Like i said it was my personal opinion on Gamstop. But i think many casinos will stop accepting players that have been registered with Gamstop shortly. And i think that would be a great decision.
 
My post had nothing to do with the OP as such.

Like i said it was my personal opinion on Gamstop. But i think many casinos will stop accepting players that have been registered with Gamstop shortly. And i think that would be a great decision.

Whilst that is the casinos prerogative of course, I can foresee some people kicking off that registered with Gamstop with the understanding they were not able to play for whatever time they excluded, for them then to continue playing afterwards.

Nowhere on Gamstop does it make reference to the possibility of casino accounts being permanently closed after de-registering from Gamstop.
 
Whilst that is the casinos prerogative of course, I can foresee some people kicking off that registered with Gamstop with the understanding they were not able to play for whatever time they excluded for them then to continue playing afterwards.

Nowhere on Gamstop does it make reference to the possibility of casino accounts being permanently closed after de-registering from Gamstop.

Yeah i know what you are saying. But Gamstop is mainly to help people quit gambling and not be able to gamble. I know people use it for other reasons but it was made to help problem gamblers stop.

Way i look at it casinos are meant to be taking responsible gambling seriously. So if someone gets their account blocked as they have a gambling problem. The casino should look at it and think well you had a problem a year ago so surely it would not be responsible of us to let you gamble again.

They should look at it like any addiction. If an alcoholic does not have a drink for a year then goes into a pub and says well i will have a few drinks as i have quit so i won't start drinking again well we know what would happen. Same as someone with a gambling problem so severe they needed Gamstop. They are hardly likely to open account again and say well just a tenner will do. Before long if they had been such a heavy addict everything would be lost. So yes think Casino's would be right in never letting them register again.
 
Yeah i know what you are saying. But Gamstop is mainly to help people quit gambling and not be able to gamble. I know people use it for other reasons but it was made to help problem gamblers stop.

Way i look at it casinos are meant to be taking responsible gambling seriously. So if someone gets their account blocked as they have a gambling problem. The casino should look at it and think well you had a problem a year ago so surely it would not be responsible of us to let you gamble again.

They should look at it like any addiction. If an alcoholic does not have a drink for a year then goes into a pub and says well i will have a few drinks as i have quit so i won't start drinking again well we know what would happen. Same as someone with a gambling problem so severe they needed Gamstop. They are hardly likely to open account again and say well just a tenner will do. Before long if they had been such a heavy addict everything would be lost. So yes think Casino's would be right in never letting them register again.

To stop all of the confusion then, the only option available then should be to self exclude for life time only. Both at Gamstop and the casinos. Having the various options available will only result in this type of discussion and punters being disappointed who used the service to have a break from gambling for a period of time.
 
Personally i think it is a good idea if casinos still refuse to let people play after Gamstop period has finished.

Gamstop in my opinion is not something that should be took likely and should really be used as a last resort for people who need help in stopping gambling . If i owned a casino and had the choice i would not let players back after it. I would look at it and say well you had such a serious addiction what has changed now. If i let you play how long will it be before the person is in a mess again.

I can seriously see some people soon starting to use Gamstop the way they used self exclusions. Once Their exclusion at Gamstop is over they open accounts again. Once they lose heavily they then start complaining that the casino should never have let them back even tho exclusion is over as they are an addict and the casino knew that since they had been on Gamstop and they are only doing what addicts do and getting a fix now they can again.

I know people will say people use Gamstop for various reasons not just because they are addicted. People used to self exclude for many reasons even because live chat took 5 minutes to answer lol. Now look at the mess these players find themselves in when suddenly their favourite casino joins another group and they are then excluded. Gamstop should be to help you quit gambling for good and no other reason.

People will read posts just like yours which will in its self deter someone from taking a break on gamstop especially if thay are looking 6 months out for a wedding ECT.
 
People will read posts just like yours which will in its self deter someone from taking a break on gamstop especially if thay are looking 6 months out for a wedding ECT.


Well that is entirely their choice. But people need to be aware that if they use it for reasons other than addiction it may lead to consequences further down the line.
 
My post had nothing to do with the OP as such.

Like i said it was my personal opinion on Gamstop. But i think many casinos will stop accepting players that have been registered with Gamstop shortly. And i think that would be a great decision.

I understand why you might think that but its hardly fair if nobody was told thst would
Well that is entirely their choice. But people need to be aware that if they use it for reasons other than addiction it may lead to consequences further down the line.

Sorry but if they sign up to be excluded for 6 months that's what they signed up to. End of. Not someone saying oh actually that's a life time exclusion . As interlog says the only way to change things is to make it one option for life.
 
I understand why you might think that but its hardly fair if nobody was told thst would


Sorry but if they sign up to be excluded for 6 months that's what they signed up to. End of. Not someone saying oh actually that's a life time exclusion . As interlog says the only way to change things is to make it one option for life.

Not saying it is a life time exclusion. Not saying it is right either.

But end of casinos may eventually with all the Responsible Gaming issues decide that they will no longer accept players that have been registered at Gamstop.

Whether you like it or agree or not. Gamstop's main purpose was to help problem gamblers stop gambling. And If a casino looks at a player and sees they were once a problem gambler then if they are going to be responsible they should not let them play again. Once you sign up to Gamstop you are basically saying you need help to stop gambling. You got the help. So why after should casinos take the chance on letting you play again.
 
If a player chooses to use Gamstop for whatever reason it ultimately means 1 thing. You can’t trust yourself. If you could you wouldn’t need it. It would be interesting to know the percentage of players that return the minute their exclusion ends. I would expect it’s amizingly high. As we know a lot of players can’t resist before that period ends. Therefore I agree with a lot of what @paul7388 says. It is a tool that is there to aid you in resisting temptation but you have to have the right mindset and commitment within yourself to carry it through. This post is not aimed at the OP but more for people who may have a problem and reading this forum.
 
Some amount of rubbish posted here. If it was to stop addicted gamblers only then 6 months would not be offered. It's just a simple way of stopping all gambling for a period of time, nothing more or less. If casinos are still finding excluded players once they have gone through the Gamstop cool off then there is clearly a flaw in the system.
 
And why would you need to stop all gambling for 6 months if it wasn’t causing you problems and you could trust yourself?

It could be a guy who puts a coupon on twice a week trying to save the 30 quid a week for a wedding or holiday. It's not difficult to understand. Gamstop don't judge anyone either.
 
I fully agree, I could see myself using Gamstop for a "short" period of 6 months just to save money for something special. It's not to say I would have problems controlling my gambling but just an extra measure so I would never be tempted.

It sure is alot easier than to self exclude at every single casino
 
I fully agree, I could see myself using Gamstop for a "short" period of 6 months just to save money for something special. It's not to say I would have problems controlling my gambling but just an extra measure so I would never be tempted.

It sure is alot easier than to self exclude at every single casino

That is what I did. Mine ends at the end of May.

However, I can foresee similar problems that the OP is experiencing once I attempt to log back into my casino accounts again!!!
 
That is what I did. Mine ends at the end of May.

However, I can foresee similar problems that the OP is experiencing once I attempt to log back into my casino accounts again!!!
That's up to the casinos to sort out though. I'm sure they will eventually figure it out when their profits are down
 
Some amount of rubbish posted here. If it was to stop addicted gamblers only then 6 months would not be offered. It's just a simple way of stopping all gambling for a period of time, nothing more or less. If casinos are still finding excluded players once they have gone through the Gamstop cool off then there is clearly a flaw in the system.

Yeah you are right about rubbish getting posted . The main reason for Gamstop is to help problem gamblers. That was the main reason it was created to try and make sure problem gamblers could no longer gamble.

And anyone that needs to use it for 6 months to save for something as they can't trust themself not to waste the money cannot control their gambling.

So i hardly call it a flaw if a casino then refuses to allow a previous Gamstop user to play. I call that responsible.

Like it or not Gamstop will be associated with problem gambling. If you don,t think you have a problem don't use it. And if you can't stop yourself from gambling to save for something you need that is a problem.
 
Yeah you are right about rubbish getting posted . The main reason for Gamstop is to help problem gamblers. That was the main reason it was created to try and make sure problem gamblers could no longer gamble.

And anyone that needs to use it for 6 months to save for something as they can't trust themself not to waste the money cannot control their gambling.

So i hardly call it a flaw if a casino then refuses to allow a previous Gamstop user to play. I call that responsible.

Like it or not Gamstop will be associated with problem gambling. If you don,t think you have a problem don't use it. And if you can't stop yourself from gambling to save for something you need that is a problem.

That is not it's purpose though to end gambling forever for problem gamblers. As we have seen there are easy ways round Gamstop, it is far from fool proof. The only way to stop fully is self exclude for life from each operator. Then with the new verification rules coming in May nobody can circumvent the process. Gamstop is a tool for everyone, not just problem gamblers.
 

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