Just found this information online

Hi Jack

The industry will get around it I'm sure. People have spent ten years of their lives campaigning and it's been a waste of their life. I started a crusade back in November last year and I'm not saying that's what you are implying but I soon gave up thank goodness.

You would not believe their replies 

@lp5vut869c Thanks for the Comment, 

Yes! I totally get the gist of your post and in the early stages of my complaint I had told the Gambling Commission that if I am flogging a Dead Horse I would like to just move on because the stresses of complaining are far worse than the losses because it prolongs the Harms and its as if they are damaging us even more and I totally agree with you on this very valid and important point!

 I can believe what they said, trust me....If I get nowhere its a lesson learned...The corruption is real and they will do anything to get that money.

Basically I have a paper trail of being a Compulsive Gambler and Gamcare is  a great place for the Governing Body to take a look at my case.

To go over it, I have the exceptional evidence of poor practice and procedures of negligence. 

I will summarise where im at:

I walk into an Adult Gaming Centre:

Gamble a substansial amount in cash and lose.

Go to the bank outside and withdraw.

Walk back in and lose.

Then they tell me I can use my card inside the Arcade and basically can continue to use it as it has no limits on the amount of transactions. At that point Im desperate and lose it all. The lady even  helps me use their machine because I never tried it before.

After 3 hours I leave and go home. I am upset and dont sleep. My heart was pounding and still is and my acid reflux is terrible. Not to mention Im broke.

I go back the next day to ensure I never enter that store again and the lady ask me my name in broken English. I see on her handheld Tablet a picture of me and she still tries to get my details. I inform her I want my money back politely and leave.

I never had this issue before because I knew to stay well away from Bookies, arcades and online gambling because I am banned and also aware they use Facial Recognition for the extra security.

In the last few months the Universal Credit asked me to attend meetings and I even discussed my Gambling issues with my advisor, for thr reason that my Father passed away of COpD and I was stressed lately.

I walked into the shop and I believed at the time I probably wasnt banned. Being a compulsive gambler I always worry about the bans running out and the risk associated with my Gambling, seeing as it always ends badly.

So, after the losses I found out I was into eight months of a 12 month ban and had the evidence because I took the photo from her tablet and left.

I contacted BACTA and they sent me the Ban list and its clear I had adhered to my Ban because they have not reported any breaches from the branches I am banned from.

The investigation lasted one Week and they tried to say that I should keep to my self exclusion and they further banned me from all of their stores. It seems as if they have ticked all their boxes and said they are happy they did their part and will NOT refund me.

The new laws are in now and it seems suspicious they only took a week to decide and now its April....Anyway, I have a lot of evidence that not only did they let me gamble whilst self excluded, they failed to indentify problem gambling seeing as I lost such a large sum in a short space of time. 

The other thing is the Banks failed in their duty of care for suspicious activity to a High Risk venue.  And the Banks denied any wrondoing either.

Im at the stage of taking them to court now because their Alternate Dispute Resolution team apparently only deals with winnings and not money spent and they do not let  claiming it back from Breaches of Duty of Care; this to me seems highly suspicious and actually a legal loophole that needs looking at in more details.

Here's a quote:

'86% of Gambling profits come from a handful of Problem Gamblers. Gambling with Lives, 2026'

Unfortunately Im one of them and it should actually trigger an immediate refund in this case, seeing as they failed in their duty of care.

The financial Ombudsman is dealing with the Case through the Banks for the rapid and unusual transactions and asking them why there wasnt nothing flagged as suspicious at the time? If I win the case  I will only receive the money the Bank knows about from the Card. 

The mental, emotional and physical harm it has caused is way worse than anyrhing and who is going to compensate me for that? Not even an apology...

Its 2026  they can fly Humans to the Moon, have Ai and Facial recognition, but they cant even detect a civilised person that has admitted they struggle with gambling and they let them destroy themselves by putting the blame on them? The statistics are there 86% profits are from Compulsive problem gamblers....And we cant even hold them liable even when we beg them to help us i!

 We need to sort this out, I dont want my kids to go through this...I hate it that its our problem and the money all goes to them whilst people are literally being destroyed...

Update about my Case.

I contacted the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and I received an apology about my situation. Therefore, I know for sure they acknowledged the shambles that is happening in every Town up and down the Country.

I read lots of horror stories on this forum and realise that placing a bet is not safe at all. Once the operators have the money they can literally do what they want.

I have been asked specifically by Gamcare to leave out certain aspects of my case, such as naming places and of course any types of defamation.

On the other hand, I am here to express my concern and try to deter people from ending up as helpless as a problem gambler can be... My point is there needs to be a much more sophosticated system that 100% works to stop gamvling transactions particulary when a Gambler 'throws in the Towel' and says I have had enough. The profit they make shouldnt go into thin air or at least seem that way! There is absolutely no point in employing all these institutions that literally do not and cannot do nothing to help a vreal victim of gamvling harm come forward to be told time and time again that they are at no fault and followed procedure.

Lastly, at least the DCMS, has some common sense and admitted a failure of these premises not doing their jobs which comes as some relief. However, I did not expect them to apoligise for someone elses shortfall and their disgusting tactics for preying on people like us.

P.s, 

The case continues..

Hi Jack

I've come to learn that the industry has the worst regulator in the world who does nothing. The industry self regulates itself praying on people who have mental health problems and when those don't exist, they do all they can to give those issues to customers. I'm sure in a 100 years the government will wake up once we have half the population as problem gamblers but until then nothing will ever happen.

If you make a complaint you are told to go to IBAS who say they don't take part in responsible gambling complaints so it's dead end everywhere. 

Posted by: @lp5vut869c

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Hi Jack

 

If you make a complaint you are told to go to IBAS who say they don't take part in responsible gambling complaints so it's dead end everywhere. 

 

Yes, definitely very frustrating to say the least!

Hopefully Google Ai will train itself on that side of things and stop giving hope for us to keep them in employment to just tell us it a losing battle after the long haul and embarrasment of admitting having a gambling problem...They often saying admitting it is a good thing, I disagree with that because I believe they have a gambling problem too by trying to get us to play whilst suffering immensly l, doing nothing about it ehen we complain evdn when they are breaching xonditions and then saying its on you after many times of repeating the circumanstances providing clear cut evidence etc etx...The list goes on..

The other thing is, the Solicitor's that deal with claims will also say that if the court case is expensive it will not be worth it because the case costs will be more than the amount lost. That is the very reason why they do not refund money because they know too well addicts cannot afford to go through that type of thing.

The main issue is for me is the Health aspect and how it mainifests into psychological and physical health issues over time. That alone must run in Billions of pounds.

Therefore, once again we arrive back at 'Self Exclusion'  and I have been reading on this forum from 2 years back and people were saying back then self exclusion didnt work and they were saying Id checks should be implemented etc etc . Fast forward to to today with Ai and facial recognition tech...It should be mandatory that if a CG opts into a BACTA (Or another) scheme, its them saying, 'Hey guys! I need help and Gambling is making me seriously ill but Im unable to stop'. Then accordingly they should step in a reaasure you that you cannot ever step foot into a venue or gamble again online whilst on a scheme and also they guarantee that the onus is on THEM if: 1. you manage to get in and win. And 2. If you lose they void all bets and refund you. That is what they should propose because then and ONLY then they can claim to be reputable, because it takes the burden of the person that clearly has a psychiatric disorder of the brain (according to the DSMII) and cannot make rational decisions under extreme pressure.

People are so conditioned to accept less than and believe that they are at fault because nobody told them to bet. In an ideal World thst is correct to some extent but unfortunaltely gambling is now mainstream and gone are the days when bookies were low key without windows hidden away. Therefore, they want to take money as a form of entertainment, fine by me but please make it safe for people who struggle with it at least...Its a huge industry and it can afford to have a good image but it doesnt want to do that, instead it wants us to continue to bet...I hope not!

Hi Jack

As I'm sure you know, and industry that makes most of its profit from misery is never going to help. They do the bare minimum which is basically nothing. All they do is nothing. There is no protection and no regulator. The fines are nothing like the profits made from the destruction and they just tick boxes to hide behind them

I don't see anything changing for years

As to your point on costs. I believe up to April this year the government received 3.4 billion from the pain and in terms of harm to addicts, their families, costs to NHS and days off it's 1.2 billion so why would the government do anything 

Also, as a word of support. I took hate the industry. I have a healthy amount of hatred and I don't think it's a bad thing as it helps me to never go back and do more destruction to myself and others. Some might disagree but it helps me on my journey so I don't think it's a bad way for you to feel. Over time I've felt less anger and more sadness to what they do without any consequences