Benefits and Drawbacks of GamStop
Most gamblers are aware that in the United Kingdom GamStop has been available for years. This is an organization where players can create an account and activate the self-exclusion period. During that period, all casinos on the web that are part of the GamStop network won’t be available for that player. Once the self-exclusion expires player can play games once again. GamStop comes with pros and cons or benefits and drawbacks and we will discuss these right here.
GamStop Benefits
Yes, GamStop is designed to help players who have gambling issues and it works well. One of the main advantages is the success rate. You can distance yourself from all UK casinos within minutes and you can have the time needed to work on your issue. Once you think you are ready and the self-exclusion has expired you can continue gambling. It is a free type of help that is available to all gamblers at any given moment.
Another advantage here is the cooperation between UK casinos and GamStop. All UK sites that have a UKGC license or MGA one are part of the network. This means that a single account on GamStop will keep you away from all UK casinos on the web. You cannot gamble there and there is no way to skip the block. But it will not affect some brands, for example, many UK online casinos not on GamStop and are available in the UK. New casinos are added to the network as we speak. In addition, the UKGC mandates that all casinos with this license must be part of GamStop which is important for new casinos.
The customer support of GamStop is amazing. You can get help at any given moment and you can contact them whenever you like. They will assist you as much as they can and they are very friendly. You can also get additional help from them if needed.
We have mentioned that GamStop is free to use. This is another benefit. As a user, all you have to do is to create an account on GamStop and activate it. There is no need to worry about subscription, fees, or anything else. You can use it as long as needed and you will never pay a fee. This is great for players who cannot afford expensive options.
GamStop is designed for helping people with gambling addiction or those who are at risk of developing one. It does work well and many players have been using it for years. The purpose of this organization is impressive. It is a free and helpful thing that is available to all gamblers 24/7.
GamStop Drawbacks
GamStop is far from a perfect thing. There are some downsides here we would like to discuss. For instance, once you select the duration of self-exclusion there is no way to change it. For example, if you have selected 5 years-long ban, you will have to wait for 5 years. Customer support or anyone else can’t help you decrease the time frame. You can only make it longer.
It is not a perfect platform. GamStop closely works with the UKGC regulator and some other companies. But, this also means that the casinos that are not with UKGC licenses don’t have to use GamStop. As such, it is easy to bypass the limit. You can gamble at casinos that don’t cooperate with GamStop which defeats the purpose. Add the fact there are a lot of casinos that don’t use GamStop and you can see that this is not a 100% effective method to distance yourself from online gambling.
There is also a risk that your account will stay banned once your self-exclusion ban expired. Some sites will not lift the ban so you won’t be able to gamble there despite you are not on GamStop anymore. This means that you will have to contact their customer support, wait, have issues and so much more in order to remove the ban. It is annoying and not something gamblers like these days.
Some players are even forced to sign up on GamStop despite the fact they don’t have any gambling issues. This can be a downside and not something we like to see. It is not very common but it does exist.
Once the self-exclusion ban ends you will have to contact customer support and wait 24 hours. Only then the ban will be removed and you can gamble at the casinos online. If you don’t contact customer support, the self-exclusion will remain active. This makes things a bit more complicated and some players don’t know about it which can make things even more annoying.
We must add that some players will seek other casinos where they can play games which can cause them certain problems. If you are one of them, it is important to gamble only at reputable and safe online casinos. Just because a casino doesn’t have UKGC and doesn’t work with GamStop it doesn’t mean it is s scam casino.
Conclusion
As you can see GamStop is not perfect. There are good and not so good things about this organization. It is important to know all of these facts before you start using them. But the main point of it is the healthy gambling awareness and ways how to help UK players. It is also mandatory to learn more before you start using it and to be aware of all the facts out there.