Is GAMSTOP’S new scheme effective  

Stricter ID checks are being brought into force as part of the tougher gambling prevention scheme. The UK Gambling commissions (UKGC) revealed that players using the self-exclusion option will not be able to place bets by bypassing the system.

An investigation was carried out on BBC Radio 5 Live, it found that people were managing to cheat the system even though they had signed up to the scheme. The scheme was set up to stop problem gamblers from being able to place bets online. The head of Gamstop Fiona Palmer said she was “deeply concerned” to find that the scheme was failing and people were able to beat the system, she said the scheme was not working as it was meant to.

The gambling regulatory body was apparently already aware of the investigation’s findings. A spokesperson for the UK Gambling commissions said that they would announce the findings of the discussion into the ID verification very soon and that GAMSTOP was still in the early stages.

GAMSTOP is a self-exclusion system that was put into place last spring by the government, it is designed to help problem gamblers by allowing them to block themselves from being able to use certain online betting sites. The gambler choses the length of time they wish to be blocked from the sites, they register their personal details into the system. So far over 50,000 people have signed up to the scheme.  The system seems to be having teething problems as gamblers who had signed up were still able to open new accounts by simply changing a few personal details.

Is GAMSTOP working

Questions have been asked by RGA and the UKGM, is this scheme good enough. Before the newer GAMSTOP scheme was brought in, there was a very similar one available, the Multi-Operator self-Exclusion Scheme (MOSES), this was set to be available in betting stores but it also had flaws.

The UK Gambling commission and the Remote Gaming Association have raised questions about the efficiency of GAMSTOP before, Tim Miller the Executive Director of the Commission had sent the RGA a letter, he said he was concerned that the national online scheme had “unacceptable” faults.

According to some tests which had been carried out, it showed customers only needed to change spellings or a name and this allowed them to bypass the system. The mailing lists that gambling operators held didn’t always match up with the lists held on the system, this allowed addicts who had signed up to the self-exclusion scheme to still be able to register.

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