First time posting here. Three days clean after signing up for the maximum self exclusion period of five years with GamStop and enabling GamBan for five years.
I am a compulsive gambler with a history of insecure employment. In the last 12 months I’ve lost roughly £70,000 to various gambling operators. Disgusted and ashamed with myself for ruining my future and letting down everyone I love. I am in consultation with StepChange about how to manage my debts before anyone suggests getting in touch with them thanks.
Now for some background I was previously self excluded with GamStop for a one year period which expired in 2022. Prior to that year on GamStop, I’d never previously lost anywhere near as much as I have in the last year. I signed up because I recognised there was a problem brewing. In that moment me year with GamStop, I was living at home and able to save up a decent amount of money to be used towards a deposit or something nice to have in my life.
Anyway, I asked for the exclusion to be removed when it expired and went about contacting bookies to reopen my accounts. I also moved out of my family home and started renting privately. Unfortunately this coincided with a massive downturn in my already insecure employment and I turned to gambling with my reopened accounts, believing I would be able to make up the shortfall in my essential outgoings through gambling. Truly insane, I know.
Reopening the accounts always required a verbal interaction and 24 hour cool off period. But while most of the operators I asked to reopen my account conducted thorough due diligence and set reasonable deposit limits on my accounts, others failed to.
The bookie responsible for the largest losses I’ve run up in the last year never established my source of funds by asking for documentation like payslips or bank statements. The only safer gambling interception I ever had with them was completing an automated form which appeared on the main page of my account following a particularly large loss, asking me to confirm my occupation and salary. I completed the form with false information and no more questions were asked.
The same bookie set a monthly deposit limit of £900 on my account, even after reopening the account in the knowledge that I was a post GAMSTOP customer and failing to establish my source of funds or other criteria. Reading up on these issues, I think this may be considered a serious social responsibility failing and I’ve complained to the bookie with my concerns.
Long story short, what I’d really like to know is if there’s any likelihood the bookie will recognise how it failed me and offer to issue a full or partial refund of any of my losses? I expect the chances of this are basically zero but have read elsewhere online that bookmakers have refunded customers before, albeit only in rare circumstances where the customer was already excluded and shouldn’t have had access to an account in the first place or similar.
thanks for any insights
Only when you will become fully aware that it was your responsibility to decide if you play or not, you then will be able to stay away from gambling. You should accept that you lost the money and they are gone. What you would do with the refund? Play again?
@795lbuiv3y hi and well done for the GF days.
In my opinion they should not have reopened your accounts after you asked without a comprehensive review and setting very low deposit/loss limits to start with. You previously asked them to exclude you due to your problem gambling, problem gambling does not just go away. They should make a settlement with you...
However they are a gambling company and out to make money. You verbally confirmed that you did not have a gambling problem and wished the accounts to be reopened. You also completed your income and expenses form with fraudulent information so they were unable to assess you correctly.
Regarding the Bookie that you lost the most on and left you with a £900 limit post gamstop, I would certainly pursue them for being an irresponsible gambling provider. Make sure you have a accurate timeline of contact and events along with any correspondence.
I am currently pursuing a complaint with a credit card that I used to gamble. I told them that I had a gambling problem and asked for the fact to be added to my file. They kept my limit at £10600 though I told them I was using it for gambling at overseas casinos who were bypassing their gambling blocks.
Months later I called them again to ask them to suspend any transactions due to my gambling and they still did not.
They rejected my complaint but the financial ombudsman thinks it is worth looking into and has asked them for more info.
Some may think that threads like this don't belong here and that all focus should be on stopping gambling and not on chasing losses via appeals. But I disagree. These companies need to be held accountable for the damage that they cause.
Also for those of us who are battling gambling addiction the debt we are suffering is another cause of distress so if we can get money back that pays off some of that debt I think it is a good thing.
However, make sure your focus is mainly on not gambling again rather than trying to regain what is already lost. If not you will just hand back any money you were to get returned.
Thanks and amen to this part of your response.
The other person who has replied to my original post and the general attitude of people on this forum towards any recovering gambling addict asking about compensation from gambling operators seems so out of touch with reality. ‘Would you play again’ any money the bookies gave back? No I wouldn’t. I can’t. I’ve excluded myself and am trying to recover. How am I supposed to do that when I literally can’t afford my bills?
Do I accept it was my decision to gamble or not? Yes I do. Do I accept responsibility for regulated bookies allowing me to lose 70k without carrying out any due diligence? No I don’t.
We don’t live in the Wild West. Gambling operators should be redressed when they let down individual customers and I’d fully support any consultation about setting up a gambling ombudsman which could oversee cases like that.
I already registered with GamStop and GamBan. I already sought out professional help. I’ve already been to hell and back. I’m in colossal debt because gambling operators set the playing field for it to happen.
Some may think that threads like this don't belong here and that all focus should be on stopping gambling and not on chasing losses via appeals. But I disagree. These companies need to be held accountable for the damage that they cause.
Also for those of us who are battling gambling addiction the debt we are suffering is another cause of distress so if we can get money back that pays off some of that debt I think it is a good thing.
However, make sure your focus is mainly on not gambling again rather than trying to regain what is already lost. If not you will just hand back any money you were to get returned.
@795lbuiv3y as a recovering addict who has gambled wrecklessly for the last 9 years & blown over 250k. You have taken the choice to gamble again, so you shouldn’t be entitled to a penny back.
Like me, you have nobody else to blame but yourself. Be the bigger person, except it and find a solution like we are on here to do. I’m 11 days in & it’s a constant fight to beat the bookies & the devil on my back. Don’t keep finding a way to blame someone else like I did.
I am curently 326 days clean i do believe their should be more checks needed to ensure safetly however having said this their no difference for me to take 10 grand to a casino and lossing it all and ive seen people lossing large sums of money without any check being made, if it was for any other purpose i would stand by you however we are all responsible for our own actions this is coming from a person who would lose every penny and then try find ways to make the short fall, your main focus should be getting support on your addiction am at a stage if i was given the choice to get all gambling losses back which work around 150k i would have to refuse it as simply it would be bad for my recovery i can understand the debt situation as it awful situation to be in however if u pull through it all it can make u stronger
@795lbuiv3y I think you’ve got to accept the money is gone. It will drive you mad and probably on to some other form of gambling if you don’t move forward.
The bookies etc are out to make money, and they sure do!!
Take one day at a time - it does get easier! I’m currently on 312 days GF!
I think bookies and online operators are using the checks they supposed to do to stop paying people out rather than protecting people they using it to their benefit. The whole reason theses checks were put in place were for problem gamblers and money laundering not for stop their pay outs. This is documented all over the internet that they not doing things as they should.
I know its our own issue what they do but i feel these operators will only start doing things in an ethical way if the gambling commission fine them or stop them trading
They need making an example of. If you feel strongly make a complaint and escalate it to their regulators. If everyone did this they would see this isnt working.
The whole industry needs stopping. The gov are making it illeagal for smokes and vapes for people under a certain age so they can neve4 vape. Gambling is just as bad they need to do the same with this or put a limit a customer cam spend a month managed with an ID number like a NI card linked to how much someone earns and set by the government.
I wish for the day something is done to stop these gambling companies trading at all
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