How has Gamstop affected the Gambling Industry in the UK

27th November 2021

When my friends and I gamble, we don’t usually consider the consequences on our mental psychology. However, while I don’t think many gamblers consider these things when sitting at a slot machine, it’s important to take a step back sometimes. When you do this, you can see that while some elements of the gambling business are truly harmful, others are not.

A serial case has been “Addiction”. And although betting yields enough money to Casinos, other times, it harms the players and society on a larger scale. Almost like a UK online casino epidemic, the solution they sought to implement is to control the gaming market.

In pursuit of curbing the dangers of addiction, the UK gambling commission introduced Gamstop. Similar to its pronunciation, “Gam” + “stop” was created to reduce or stop addiction in the industry. It is an effectively publicized software designed to reduce gambling dependency. And this software prevents gamblers from accessing any of the UK casinos.

Developed by the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), Gamstop has soft-launched in 1984 and has been described as being successful in the market since its inception. Surprisingly, 50,000 Britons adopted the use of Gamstop in 2008, and about 83% of the entire population approved of its usefulness in their gaming pursuit.

One of the rare features of Gamstop is the ability to block your access to place bets on any UK casino without payment or using any slate services.

Implementing on the Gamstop website was made easy:

  • Access the site
  • Register
  • Select your desired blocking period
  • Answer security questions
  • Input your mobile phone numbers
  • Confirm your identity.

When you complete the above process, you own a registered account, then Gamstop can block access to any of the British companies you play on. Gamstop has additional practical tools to aid or guide your decisions.

How has Gamstop affected the Gambling Industry?

The impacts of Gamstop on the UK gaming market cannot be overrated. The effects are clear, and they range from the reduction of gambling dependency to the encouragement of responsible gambling:

  • Gamstop affected gambling platforms through the UKGC license. To be clear, for any gambling platform to function in the market, they must comply with the government program designed and partner with the UK gambling commission to obtain the license. A striking example is Yukon Gold casino reviews, which is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. Immediately gamers register with the scheme and their names get automatically updated on the online blocker database, thereby prohibiting their gambling activities on every site sponsored by them.
  • Addicted gamblers still have a way to escape. By playing only on foreign licensed websites, gamblers escape the restrictions Gamstop has in place. This is possible since the latter websites are guided by different commission systems. The repercussions of this are low customers and earnings for the British online gaming market, which may eventually lead to business winding up.
  • Legislators are not affected by the work of Gamestop. They are rather more concerned about the safety of their citizens. However, this impact is on the online market and does not affect land-based platforms. This means that gamblers who do not enjoy online markets play their games on land since they do not have any form of restriction. The land-based casinos are appropriately regulated and worth choosing casinos.
  • Most online casinos not on Gamstop have become more popular because the users are allowed to bet on their favourite sports, especially on Gamestop black Friday. The peculiarity of this situation causes gamers to seek ways to continue playing their favourite games using slot machines. Most of the highly ranked international casino sites are not in partnership with them, thereby leaving the lower-ranked sites to partner with Gamestop. And since these lower-ranked sites do not have enough to compete with the internationally ranked sites, the number of gamers that will engage them is low.
  • The essence of the use of Gamstop is to check the fast-rising increase in the number of addicts. Therefore, there is a dire need to put rules in place to curb playing excessively. To ensure that they are gambling in compliance with the set rules and regulations of the UKG commission. And although the gaming industry is a profitable venture, it should be more concerned about players’ state rather than profit. This can only be achieved by strict adherence to player blocks.

Pros

●      Privacy

Gamstop is free to use and offers Casino users privacy by ensuring that no other person is aware of your dependency. When you attain the dependency level, it does not advertise or inform anyone of your gaming activities; the site keeps all your information private.

●      Accessibility

This is the ability to connect at any time and anywhere irrespective of the time of decision. Users do not need a spot to activate or initiate their Casino betting decisions. You can activate your decision immediately when you are ready to begin using the feature. Since it is a website, you can access it every day, on weekdays, and during the holidays.

●      Safety

From the psychological perspective, Gamstop gives users the ability to earn a fresh start without losing self-respect or feeling remorseful about their gambling state. It acknowledges the user’s effort and assists in putting an immediate stop to the addiction.

Cons

●      Irreversibility

In most cases, users do not have the option of a changed decision. Immediately you choose your selected minimum period for blocking, you will automatically stay out of the gambling market for that exact duration, without any remedy.

●      No Auto-blocking Duration

Another disadvantage is that users do not have an automatic blocking duration. This means that when the blocking duration is over, they still won’t access online sites, unless they activate their presence in the market.

●      Withdrawal Difficulty

Users experience a lot of difficulty with trying to withdraw unlimited funds at the casino. In most cases, users do not get these funds returned to them, even after several days and eventually lose their money.

●      Country Restrictions

Gamstop only works with online casinos licensed in the United Kingdom. Also, Gamstop only works for players that are willing to stop their addictive gambling patterns.

Conclusion

The ability of users to self-exclude themselves in the minimum exclusion period is pivotal in the results obtained by using Gamstop thus far.

In the future, this market software will grow and be more relevant to building great countries from the societal level, with properly cultured and mannered citizens. And any gambling establishment in the market that does not support its use may be deemed irresponsible and checked to curb its activities.