Gamstop - Please help?

Gamstop doesn’t self exclude your email , it self excludes you from all participating companies.

From what I can gather is you’ve tried to get around the exclusion by changing emails? And although it hasn’t picked you up straight away it has flagged you as excluded within a couple of hours? Tbf they have every right not to pay you out, and even doing so could land them with a fine as you’re self excluded and they need to show their being responsible. I’m not sure the legality of getting your deposit back either as it will be coming back as a breach of the self exclusion terms and conditions.

I actually read, that they are obliged to give back your £50 but you would not get your winnings. Although they will argue that you did join gamstop and that is 5yr ban. So although you broke your side of the agreement to gamble free. They did act on your decision you made 8 months ago.

Using a different email address didn't work as your home details still stand.

Because you did deposit while on a ban you can fight to get deposit back.

And you have to write a letter to gamstop to cancel the ban, I read that, but.. The gambling sites will probably still not take you on as a player.

Read any site for the playing responsibility.

Just to add.

Soon as gamstop alert the UK and European sites that you have asked to stop gambling because your a gambler they will close all accounts with a ban. They are protecting their licence to ban you.

I signed up a few days ago. I don't want to gamble, and like Jason said you thought you found a way to cut corners but sorry once the casino sites know you have a problem they did a big campaign about playing responsible.

Good luck.

Morris, I think the point is that you signed up to Gamstop 8 months ago and you purposefully circumvented the system to allow yourself the opportunity to sign up to an online betting site.

So with regards to them paying out your £200 winnings, I highly doubt that will happen. In fact I’m pretty sure it won’t.

Gamstop doesn’t self exclude people via Email addresses, in the same way as say Twitter would. You can’t just make a new email address that isn’t used by Gamstop.

The online betting companies will check ALL your details that you used to sign up to Gamstop, by using things like the electoral register, soft searches on credit report etc, and eventually will notice that despite you changing your email address, it is in fact YOU, Mr Morris, who lives at Joe Bloggs Street etc, that has requested to be excluded. Not your email address.

That’s why I’ve never bothered to even attempt to bypass Gamstop. For the very reason that you’ve demonstrated. I would hate to get to a situation where I’ve been allowed on to an online site, won a substantial amount of money and then been told I can’t collect because they’ve caught me out (which they will do eventually!).

At best you may get your deposit back but it’s really not worth the hassle given the chances of being found out are very high.

Sorry mate.

Just to add, even if you were to change your home address, to say your parent’s address when signing up to an online account....

You wouldn’t then get past the verification process on the online betting site. They’d see (after doing searches) that there was no Mr Morris (you) living at that address anymore and you wouldn’t get verified. Or if they’d require copies of documents instead (driving license, utility bill etc) you’d not be able to send them.

I was told that the European based online sites (b**way, bvictr etc) don’t tend to ask for documents, they do behind the scenes checks on credit reports to ensure the KYC process.

The only detail that didn’t match when signed up to Gamstop was the email address. Everything else matched and has been provided to then (Not quite sure what you’re referring to then because I have been allowed to sign up with my same name, numbers, DOB, house details etc...)

They are reviewing it now anyway. Gamstop have said the whole issue is a bit silly and that really, if the details did match, then they should refund the deposit.

Yes, you may have been allowed to sign up with the same details (name, house details, DOB etc) but as you’ve found out, they did eventually spot that you were the same person that wanted to be excluded in the first place.

Had your email also matched to the one that you provided to Gamstop, then they’d have stopped you before you had the chance to sign up to any online account.

To be honest, a lot of these online sites will be rubbing their hands together because you’ve given them the perfect excuse (by giving a different email address) to take your deposit and then to make you fight to get it back.

They’ll claim to have not spotted it straight away when really they probably did. Had you have kept losing your bets, they may have delayed the fact that they’d spotted you for a bit longer....until you then won a bet of substantial money. That’s when they’d have jumped at the chance to avoid paying you out. Which sounds like what might have happened here.

Good news. They’ve reviewed the case and will honour the winnings and subsequently close the account. Agreed it was an error on their end and agreed with Gamstop’s view on it.

You’re lucky then mate. I think most wouldn’t have honoured the winnings.

DeterminedDan wrote:

You’re lucky then mate. I think most wouldn’t have honoured the winnings.

True... but they can’t let me sign up (therefore showing an issue on their end as well as mine), deposit money, win and then not allow either the winnings or the deposit to be given.

Can understand their stance on it but the system wasn’t exploited and they couldn’t leave me out of pocket when I technically signed up legitimately (all my details are correct and would pass validation)

In order for them to provide the deposit back, the details had to match Gamstop. They all did APART from the email so I simply argued that if you’re not going to associate me with Gamstop (Therefore giving me the deposit), you have to let me have the winnings and technically I’m a legitimate customer as they can’t link me to Gamstop with the email being wrong.

They didn’t argue because they couldn’t have it both ways in the end.

I agree with the fact that stronger, initial checks should have been made by the online site (which I think is going to be improve by early May, whereby they have to validate and accept your details straight away rather than the 72 hours...) to check your sign up details. A simple change of email address shouldn’t have been enough to let you sign up in the first place.

I’m glad you managed to get your money back though. Take it as a lesson learnt though in future mate.

I’m sure there are always going to be ways around Gamstop even in the future. I find it hard to see how they will possibly be able to plug all gaps without some sort of a national ID system.

A part of me thinks that they won’t implement such a system because they want us to try and find ways around the current system so that they can continue to generate the income that us compulsive gamblers provide.

Your best bet (excuse to pun) is to try and add blockers to your blockers. Have as many layers of protection as possible.

Hi morris2694.

You are searching for the wrong answers and deep down you know you are searching for the wrong answers. You might not like what Im saying but that will be the addiction talking. I think you know the full picture that its a losing game and anything back would have been temporary tokens to gamble again

Blocks like Gamstop work to a certain level just like any blocks. They are not 100% secure but we all know that. Some are better than others but a determined gambler still in the grip of an addiction can find a way to gamble

If you are finding ways around any block those blocks are not for you and need to be multipled up with other measures.

I believe it takes a born again moment of honesty with people close together with a stong desire to seek help for a full recovery

Local exclusions were enough for me because my main anti trigger was feeling that they may not pay out even if I did sneak in. I would like to say there was a shame barrier as well because Im a very private person who liked to gamble without being recognised or disturbed. So (surprisingly) those blocks worked for me but I also had other blocks in place and was ready to discuss if I had urges to try and break them.

Its an absolute disgrace that the gambling industry is allowed into peoples homes....at the very least people should have to travel and sign in somewhere for an activity I consider to be a vice. When you study gambling addiction it becomes crystal clear that they are actually selling a drug...no ifs.... no buts...that is what gets people hooked just like substance abuse.

Hard as it may be, if you have a gambling problem they have done you a favour. They are not offering an income scheme. Its a drug of expectation we became hooked on for complex reasons.

The gambling dens are not angels. If a deposit comes back you can consider that a minor point in your battle against addiction. The real issue here is that you have knowingly circumvented a block supposed to help you.

You will realise that my words are to help you and not tell you off like a naughty boy

You dont need gambling in your life. It flat out ruins people and life is much better gamble free

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

On the subject of GamStop, has anybody else had any difficulty in receiving emails from GamStop?

I couldn’t remember my password because I wanted to sign in to update my details. So I requested a password change, which required an email being sent to me so that I could reset my password. I’ve tried this numerous times over the last month or so but the email never gets to me. I’ve looked in my junk folder too, but nothing. Just wondered if anybody else had experienced this? I moved out of my parent’s house a few years ago and I wanted to include their address too. Because I’m sure I could probably sign up using that address as I quite often go back home for long periods.