- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Location
- United Kingdom
That's a good point from a pragmatic point of view. There are potentially different perspectives between 1. player 2. industry and 3. regulator.
There are probably always going to be difficult questions regarding the best ways to balance responsible gaming and freedom, but my somewhat cynical belief is that the problem gamblers tend to find a way to blow their money no matter what you do. So restrictions tend to not have much value to problem gamblers - sometimes even harming them by driving games underground and out of regulated jurisdictions that ensure payouts and fair games. While the recreational players end up losing their freedoms.
I am absolutely in favor though of casinos taking a pro-active approach in encouraging players to set their own responsible gaming limits. It's an incredibly minor hassle for someone to just say "no thanks," while it puts it front and center for those who want it. I'll admit that even people who aren't addicts can sometimes make pretty huge mistakes, and something like this should be moderately effective in stopping that. They won't lose their life savings in minutes if they set their limits at account creation. Now, if they go to 6 different casinos over the course of 20 minutes to get around their own self restrictions and blow their savings anyway, I don't think there was anything the casinos could have (or should have) done to help them.
Exactly... Which is why adding a "max stake" RG option would work. Choose to ignore it? That's up to you. But at least you had the option. Casinos might not like a max stake RG option but I don't think it would really hurt them much. It might actually benefit them... People staking up and doing their nuts would be less likely to happen which means players would be more likely to have longer sessions, which means they don't lose as fast and all in all probably have a better experience. Then they come back time and again and you have long term happier customers...
At least that's the theory...
Now of course the feature buy "cheats" a little because it says the feature stake is £1 if you buy for £50, but as long as stake is classed as purchase price then all good.