Hi all
I am writing to the Chair of the Gambling Commission. It's sort of therapy for me to get it off my chest. I thought you might be interested in seeing what I have put. Please do comment!
Dear Mr Moyes
My name is xxxxxxxxx and I am a gambling addict. Over the last two years I have lost significant amounts of money through online casino gambling and am now in debt for over £40,000. I have no-one to blame but myself and will have to live with the consequences of that.
I have contemplated my situation and thought about how I have allowed things to get so bad in the first place. I have opened accounts on practically every online gambling site available and have subsequently excluded myself from these sites. But that obviously hasn't prevented me from becoming addicted and in huge amounts of overwhelming debt. Anyone with an addiction will seek ways to feed their habit, be it drugs, alcohol or gambling. Addicts have no control over their actions. The "demon" inside will always find a way.
I find myself thinking what could have prevented me from becoming addicted and in debt. The current tools rely on the individual to make the right decisions but will not at all prevent or protect a gambling addict from themselves. All sites offer the usual options such as deposit limits, time outs, reality checks and so on but these are ineffective in my experience. The onus should be put fairly and squarely on the operators to show a proper duty of care to their customers instead of blatantly exploiting them. For example, one day I lost £6,000 and the following day I got a call from the company. This was to congratulate me that I had been granted VIP status and given a £250 cash bonus. What should have happened was that they should have discussed their concerns about the amount of money I had lost in a short space of time and that they were going to enforce a time out on my account to give me time to think things over. Tough love, but I can guarantee it would have made me really think about my actions.
Below I list all the things that I believe would have made a significant difference not only to me but to the thousands and thousands of people in a similar situation. They are in no particular order
1) Ban or at the least strictly limit the amount of money that can be deposited using a credit card.
2) Upon opening an account players are automatically limited to stakes of no more than £2 per game for a period of 6 months.
3) Upon opening an account player are automatically limited to depositing no more than £250 per month.
4) A central register managed and maintained by the Gambling Commission that lists all players who have excluded themselves from at least one online gambling site.
5) Irreversible withdrawals
I am making every effort possible to deal with my addiction and my debts and I call on the Gambling Commission to make every effort to protect addicts. Not only will you be protecting addicts you will be protecting the innocent victims of this such as their partners and children. I could very soon be at the mercy of the state that will have to find and fund accommodation, food, clothing, healthcare, benefits etc. Gambling may make money for the Treasury but it will only be spent on the welfare state helping the addicts. Its a false economy.
Online casino operators make their profits by exploiting addicts and this must be addressed now. You have the powers to do this and I implore you to enforce them. Some casinos will go out of business but realistically most sites are operated from outside the UK so should not be any loss to the country.
I thank you for your time and hope to see the Gambling Commission proactively protecting vulnerably people such as myself in the future
Regards
Excellent I will come bk to this well done you. Something needs to be done
Fantastic read - hit alot of home truths
Very nicely written Prosaic but my overwhelming view is that something would have been done about it long ago if they were interested. The government quite clearly have a vested interest in the tax revenue and you cant ignore that giant elephant in the room
Ok you can give it a go but I consider these bodies toothless and unwilling to act. I dont consider your letter will start a flood of remorse. There are other things we would like the government to get rid of and they aint doing it.
Indeed I sense that they just consider us silly little boys and girls ripe to be taxed and profited from in this way.
Im not saying you aren't right to send that letter. Im saying that the gambling system is well ingrained in our society. If I opened a shop selling dreams for dopamine Im sure I would be investigated. However the gambling industry seem untouchable due to the massive amount of revenue they create. Money talks within our society and thats the sad thing.
It gets it off your chest and will be theraputic. Sorry but other than that I feel you are wasting your time. I deal with and face the reality in my recovery
Go and have a word with your local mp and see how interested he/she is. I can see the false platitudes and faux interest looming
All the best
From seeking some idea how or where to find advise it brought me to this page and I genuinely read the first post like it had been 5mins earlier typed up to exactly the situation Ive been in and same ideas and thoughts Im thinking over. My situation is very similar. Quickly esculated levels of wagering online left me with something like probably a dozen debts in the region of £25,000 and moving back to my parents mid 30's. Ive not only ruined my life and opertunitys in the future ive put a great deal of pressure and suffering on my parents that also want to help even though I needed a debt managment plan to help steady persistant threats from creditors. As you stated there can be no blame to anyone other than myself and the shame , anger and upset twice left me and such states i made two attempts towards ending my life. In the present day I still struggle to resist temptation though Im often watched and gave main control of my bank to my mum to not have any option while I move forward with the hope I might resume some form of life following lets call it hermit lifestyle Ive ended up becoming detached from anything consider social since november. The one point I very much want to either be offered in anyway anyone could help or advice in some form is the anger I seem to continue towards the action or responsabilty that ***** neglected to look at or just interveen if only to ask that i knew the levels of control or just an email reminding me what tools I could look at to in some form provide any form that they just let me continue very noticably spiral completley out of control. Just to offer examples it was so quickly in the end I cant imagine that nothing was flagged to look at or contact the player. I feel that Im comfortable admitting I destroyed not just my own but other family members have suffered massively to add to the shame I constantly live with. My question is can such out of control wagering that moved in say a couple of day wagering move from consistantly regular casino slot spins of 2 -4 quid become in less than 48hours spins at £250. Top it off with dozens of previous contact on live chat complaining over games Ive lost on. Has this not shown or proves a casino could have protected me in some attempt that not left me where I find myself today. I want to believe and seek advise what I can do requesting someone atleast look at provided documents that even my 2 year old niece could see without question are someone thats lost control and needs stopping just to question well being. Surely there is some duty required by the company the way I played is proof they have failed some form of protection I can make a complaint towards. I saved much of my casino gameplay but upon contacting a company called resolver my account was by ***** closed and also b*****r that would further support the same company has done nothing other than watch there profits rise and particiate in doing nothing other than observe irregular activity increasing each hour inbetween hundres of indiviual deposits at 2mins each transaction move into 1000 depoists and then upwards. Something I also can not forgive was my late night call to ***** because I had £10,000 in my account which I wanted out of the sites account but I had recentley lost my bank card and had added the new card to my account which was stopping withdrawls. I clearly and calmly explained I wanted to be given anyway possible the chance that would remove the funds but the only advise I was offered was the bank need to write to them with an explanation that as I repeatedly informed him was for 2 months no longer in use or available and I only had a card which was with the same account just a replacement of the previous and needed anything that they could do as I knew I would continue throughout the night and eventually finish with nothing. No help or advise was given. By the morning the 10k was back with the site and i had deposited and lost a further £3800. Surely I gave the agent reason to if told I expressed doubt that I would wager till the funds had gone needed something down if not only to suspend my account for 8hrs while i had a think how I could make such funds unavailable as I was becoming completly aware my control no longer existed and I now neede help. What happen after just couldnt be ignored wagering levels of money I had never done and in my opinion was no way consistant and was quickly at live changling levels. Have I a reason to think that ive been let down by ***** and who can I ask advise if so that I may ask could at least look over activity of gambling levels that became more everyday and as you staed was encourage by the company that had never previously given me no more than 5 free spins are now emailing me saying we put vip bonuses in various accounts to make me become active with them again. I think while my actions are ones I feel sick now thinking about could have not esculated so badly had the site interviened or am I wasting time that they will not admit of support such ideas ...... Sorry to go on but this I feel is important and at least should warrent at least a look
Hello chriss810910,
If you haven't already looked at this, please read through this detailed page on the Gambling Commision website about how to complain about a gambling business and how to use an 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' provider, in case it helps:
http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/for-the-public/Your-rights/Complaints.aspx
It sounds like you have been through a great deal and you are welcome to call us on 0808 8020 133 if you would like some emotional support or if you would like us to help you to access free therapy sessions locally or online.
Take care,
Forum admin.
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