Gambling Problem, Is it Possible to be a Thing of the Past?

[BitcoinPanther]

I am doing my daily reading of online news and articles when I stumbled on this one.  It has an article title of Casino Guru’s Šimon Vincze on How Problem Gambling Can Become a Thing of the Past So I read and wanted it to share in this forum for some healthy discussion.

Here is the opening paragraph of the article to establish the questions.

We sit down and speak with Casino Guru’s Šimon Vincze, the man behind the company’s sustainable online gambling and reducing gambling-related harm juggernaut. Vincze most recently published the blue paper for the Global Self-Exclusion Initiative, a massive campaign that intends to tackle problem gambling with the participation of industry stakeholders and build a future where gambling-related harm is no longer an issue. Find out who Vincze is and how he is reshaping the industry.

More detail can be read on the link above.


The 3 key points that summarize the article:

The gambling industry is missing a system with the possibility to self-exclude internationally.

Thanks to our global presence and active approach toward sustainable online gambling, we saw a gap in the current self-exclusion options, practically overseen by the rest of the industry.

Read the blue paper and dedicate a few minutes of your time to imagining a world where blocking one's access to all gambling opportunities is a possibility. "

Digging deeper into what is this Global Self-Exclusion system (GSES) is, I found the pdf of the blue paper.  GSES is also deeply explained in this website, Global Self-Exclusion Initiative, with a tagline :  "Let’s make online gambling safer, together."

It said that to be able to solve the gambling problem in the gambling industry it needs GSES.

Why the gambling world needs a global self-exclusion scheme?

Present self-exclusion options can be circumvented
Operator-level and nation-wide self-exclusion do not create an effective barrier that stops problem gamblers from playing. Players can avoid them by gambling at other sites, or even opting for unlicensed operators and ending up playing at objectively worse gambling websites.

Regulators and operators do not work together on a global level
National schemes do not work together on a global level or let foreign operators take part. Even if they wanted to, the rigid rules individual entities have to follow do not allow them to team up to better protect players.

What Self-Exclusion Is and Why It Is Important

What is self-exclusion?

Self-exclusion is a responsible gambling feature available to people playing in casinos or partaking in other gambling activities that allows players to block themselves from gambling for a certain period of time.

How does it work?

Players can usually self-exclude from an individual casino in one of two ways:

Turning on self-exclusion by themselves, in the ‘responsible gambling’ section of the casino website. This usually involves choosing the desired duration of self-exclusion, but some casinos also ask about the reasons why the player wishes to use this feature.
Messaging customer support via live chat or e-mail. Some casino websites don’t support a feature that would allow players to turn on self-exclusion themselves. Instead, they need to message customer support and ask them to turn on self-exclusion for them.

Why is self-exclusion important?

The importance of self-exclusion has a lot to do with reasons why players use it. While these can be very diverse, a considerable proportion of players resort to self-exclusion because they struggle to keep their problematic gambling habits under control.

How would global self-exclusion scheme help?

Overcoming gambling addiction requires major commitment and often also professional help, but self-exclusion can make the process at least a bit easier and more effective.

The only challenge to this system is that it can be easily circumvented by gambling addict by finding a foreign casino willing to allow the player to gamble. The only solution to this problem is simply by making the self-exclusion global and affecting all available casino can make the system very much harder to circumvent.

Personal Input:
Having this kind of tool in every online casino is really helpful but the main challenge is the people involved.  Are they willing to participate in the program?  That is the main issue unless Casino will cooperate and force implement this procedure to their players which is highly unlikely.  Aside from that this is still in the experimental stage so it is too early to say that this kind of tool will solve the gambling problem that had been in the industry since the beginning.  I think it will help but it won't make the gambling problem a thing of the past. So what do you think about this article's claim?


Sources:
https://www.gamblingnews.com/news/casino-gurus-simon-vincze-on-how-problem-gambling-can-become-a-thing-of-the-past/
https://casino.guru/global-self-exclusion-initiative
https://casino.guru/global-self-exclusion-initiative/self-exclusion-and-its-importance

[Oshosondy]

The importance of self-exclusion has a lot to do with reasons why players use it. While these can be very diverse, a considerable proportion of players resort to self-exclusion because they struggle to keep their problematic gambling habits under control.

Addiction can be worse than that, most of the gambling sites makes self-exclusion easy to be circumvented. But it can be a good way if addict's family knows about this and make sure they call the customer service of the betting the addicted victim is using for them to enable it for him. But the person can resort to other gambling sites, that is how addicts can do.

Also an addict  can enable self-exclusion, but later make use of another gambling site, that is just an addiction. It is possible that self-exclusion can help to some extent though, but there are more to do in a way to restrict yourself from addictive gambling.

As for me, I do not see self-exclusion that useful because their are other means an addict will resort to, to gamble and lose more. The best way to solve gambling addiction is about addict himself to realize that gambling is never a job, it is never a profession, it is never a means to earn because losses will come because of that poor mindset.

[swogerino]

Gambling is as old as human history or really old at least as they say there is 4000 years old or something similar I don't know now.It will be very difficult for us to have gambling as a problem of the past while we see daily increase in the volumes of money gambled in different online and offline casinos,this amount has only seen upside and not downside.I do not know of any remedy for such "illness" as is the gambling addiction.

Self-exclusion does not help as it can be easily avoided and we all know how to do that.What can cure the addiction is only the strong will of the gambler to call it a day and definitely quit gambling,we have seen many good cases of such happenings but we have much more addicted gamblers compared to those that is why is impossible for me that we make gambling a thing of the past.

[avikz]

Self exclusion can become useless for couple of reasons -
1. It all starts with oir willingness. If a gambler has a strong mind, he will be able to self exclude himself from gambling for as long as he wants. It all starts with us. Think about cigarette addiction. Unless the addicted person is willing to take action, nothing really happens.

2. There are multiple gambling websites available, including unlicensed ones. So even if someone has a strong mind to self exclude him from gambling for a specific period of time, it will be pretty easy for him to come back to gambling through another website.

Addiction can be treated through regular counseling. No measure of exclusion will work unless it is a forced one.

[Wexnident]

The issue of multiple gambling sites could be fixed if there was a central organization that could take hold of all the gambling industries licensed out there and if the said organization was to properly enforce proper rules and laws so that unlicensed casinos wouldn't be able to work. I honestly think it isn't impossible for a said organization to be developed, just that it could take a LOT of time since there are a few conflicts that may come to play such as religion.

A different part of the problem would be an addiction, now this really all boils down to the player themselves. It's like how developed systems or websites always have loopholes or bugs, you can't indefinitely remove a problem imo, unless you completely remove the activity that causes the problem, in this case, gambling.

[Jating]

I think every casino has a self exclusion and gamble responsibly program. And so this is global per se, it's just the question if this is being implement or not. Is the casino able to block the person if he can control it and slip and try to gamble again?

And the gamblers has also the responsibility to inform the gambling platform specially if you break it. So again, it boils down to both parties, and take reasonable steps to prevent this gambling problem not only for the individual, but for others as well.

[ralle14]

The concept of linking most gambling sites to track the same players who have an addiction seems interesting. It's still good to have something slightly better than the regular self-exclusion as it's one way to close most of their accounts in one go and change their ways one step at a time. It's indeed a good tool but like you've said the difficult part is how these gambling addicts are willing to do the initiative knowing it's not that easy to admit your own addiction if you're in the shoes of the gambler.

[jackg]

A global system might be unachievable on its own as the person will probably have to link all their gambling accounts in one website and that's probably how it would be circumvented (eg just making new accounts).

Addiction can be treated through regular counseling. No measure of exclusion will work unless it is a forced one.

Yeah it can be treated much better by counselling as a counsellor will able to replace it with an activity the person might consider more fulfilling than gambling too which might help(/forcibly) distract them while they try to move away from it.

[Rruchi man]

Having this kind of tool in every online casino is really helpful but the main challenge is the people involved.  

There are actually people looking for such tools that they could use to put their problem gambling under control. Putting it under control doesn't necessarily mean they want to stop gambling, but they've recognised it to be a problem and will like to be more in control of that compulsion.

Are they willing to participate in the program?  That is the main issue unless Casino will cooperate and force implement this procedure to their players which is highly unlikely.

They don't need to force it on anyone, a simple occasional recommendation can go a long way and have a great deal of effect.

[Welsh]

As long as people are poor, gambling will exist. As long as people have too much money, that they don't know what to do with it, gambling will exist. The short version is you aren't going to remove gambling, and therefore you aren't going to completely eradicate the problems associated with it.

Counselling is probably the best approach, although it's not pushed enough. I don't get the impression that most mainstream betting sites care about your well being. They care about how much you're giving them, and as soon as you start taking off of them, in a decent quantity at a regular interval, you'll be banned.

[Gianluca95]

Surely yes sir. Self-exclusion can help you so much to avoid to bet, and also to tell about your problem to your family can help you. They will try to keep you distantly to the gambling in every way, and this can be a great

thing, if you're not especially so strong to stay away from it. Everything is possible, you only need your action in doin it.

[dothebeats]

Self-exclusion has its limits. Professional intervention is still the way to go if you want to make sure that you will be set free from the constraints of gambling. Just look around on some of the threads in this forum. Lots of platforms have weak self-exclusion programs which still, in the end, forces the user to play after being exposed to promotional material from the platform. Gambling addiction/problem will never be fully resolved as people will always lead themselves to destruction by being complete degenerates to satiate their desires.

[fiulpro]

Most of the people that are gambling using cryptocurrencies are not willing to share their personal information with everyone and thus the Global Self Exclusion Scheme might not work since this would require a lot of time , software, information, effort to make a system like that which would also need funding and there is no way that they would be able to do it without considerable amount of money therefore I do think that resolution might come with something simpler, like an application, a software that can be installed in a laptop or a mobile which would include the exclusionary indications as mentioned but at the same time it would not allow the user to delete it, this might be way more efficient, cheap and accessible.

[jrrsparkles]

Anyone really beleive that self exclusion feature on a casino can stop a person from all his gambling activities? I don't think so because its simple they can go to other casino and start doing the same when their urge hits them so the real solution is self realisation not the exclusion, if someone capable of realizing they are going over their limits then certainly they can stop it as well so what is really needed is education and clear knowledge about what an addiction leads to not just about the gambling alone we have lot others and the root cause can be without knowing the circumstances and where it will leads to.

[_act_]

Anyone really beleive that self exclusion feature on a casino can stop a person from all his gambling activities? I don't think so because its simple they can go to other casino and start doing the same when their urge hits them

An addict will not even see the function useful because they have urge to gamble more, only what an addict can do is to increase the amount he his using to stake or that he is using monthly to stake. A gambler that is able to use self-exclusion would be able to do away with gambling without even using self-exclusion at all, but a gambler that can not do away with gambling will not be able to use self-exclusion at all, it will be useless in this later case.

[Gozie51]

We have to understand addiction to anything including gambling in this case as a challenge and not an international behavior that someone can just walk out from by self excluding himself. Even where a gambling casino bars an addict from playing in their team and condition, such person will find means to satisfy that urge. Addiction is an urge and like most addiction, people need help and if they don't get such appropriate help and able to go away from it, they die from such addition example drug dealing. Gambling addiction need help because when you don't do things in moderation, you are obviously abusing that thing. An addict may not be able to self exclude by themselves alone.

[Lanatsa]

Self-exclusion has its limits. Professional intervention is still the way to go if you want to make sure that you will be set free from the constraints of gambling. Just look around on some of the threads in this forum. Lots of platforms have weak self-exclusion programs which still, in the end, forces the user to play after being exposed to promotional material from the platform. Gambling addiction/problem will never be fully resolved as people will always lead themselves to destruction by being complete degenerates to satiate their desires.

We are the ones who do have need to control because if those intents in mind would really be still there then its really impossible for you to quit gambling for good and making yourself exclude out of addiction.

Those self-exclusion or even professional help or treatment would be all useless if you do make yourself not able to control your intent or attention towards gambling.

You should really be having that good control so that you would be finding yourself to be safe out for possible problems or headaches.

[lionheart78]

I think this self-exclusion system is great if
1. The gambler is able to identify that he has a gambling disorder.
2. The gambler with a gambling disorder wanted to treat himself.
3. The gambling addict is aware of the self-exclusion tool.
4. The tool is available where the gambling addict is playing.
5. The addicted gambler has a strong will to follow the self-exclusion procedures.

If either 1 of them is lacking then the tool won't help much.  It is always a challenge for a player to declare that he has compulsive gambling let alone knowing that he is already addicted to gambling.  That being said, I don't think the gambling problem will cease to exist s long as the gambling industry is around.  

[Ulven]

 An addict can self-exclude from a site, but then continue to use another gambling site. It is possible that self-exclusion can help to some extent though, but there are more to do in a way to restrict yourself from addictive gambling.it’s not very easy to control yourself from gambling, because there are many distractions to get through. It's similar to an addiction really and must be treated with care and recognising that this is a problem before it gets out of hand.

[serjent05]

An addict can self-exclude from a site, but then continue to use another gambling site.

If this is the case the gambling addict is just fooling himself and the people around him.  Probably to make other think that he is trying to treat himself of addiction but deep inside he isn't serious at all.

It is possible that self-exclusion can help to some extent though, but there are more to do in a way to restrict yourself from addictive gambling.

Self-exclusion can help greatly if the desire of the one involved is to make himself treated for addiction.  I agree, that there is more than having a tool available in the casino.  It needs one's perseverance, strong discipline, and self-respect to be able to restrict oneself from gambling.

it’s not very easy to control yourself from gambling, because there are many distractions to get through. It's similar to an addiction really and must be treated with care and recognising that this is a problem before it gets out of hand.

If treating addiction can't be helped by doing it through self-exclusion, I think the person should look for medical experts and psychologists in gambling addiction.