Gambling can be one of the most fun and exciting activities to do but it can easily spiral out of control and cause you to overspend. Luckily, there are several online gambling services which were created to prevent you from overspending and, more seriously, potentially developing an addiction.
Withdrawal Locks
Many online casinos take several days to process withdrawal requests, causing many people to cancel their withdrawal and wager it on games. When this happens, most gamblers lose their hard-earned winnings and deposit more into their account to make up for the big losses, leading to overspending.
In response, many UK online casinos and various of their sister sites have implemented what’s known as withdrawal locks. These unique features provide you with the ability to lock a withdrawal, stopping you from reversing the transaction while it’s processing. No one, not even you, can unlock the withdrawal, forcing you to wait until it has been processed and withdrawn. Since its implementation, this handy little feature has helped prevent players from spending all their winnings and overspending.
Loss Limits
Some online casinos require you to enter loss limits when registering. Videoslots is one of the few online casinos to have made their loss limits a requirement for playing at the site. Loss limits dictate how much a player can lose within a single time period and if that limit is reached, the players will receive a message and will be unable to make any additional bets until that time limit has passed.
For example, a player can set a £100 loss limit for a 24 hour period. If the player loses more than £100, they will be unable to make any other bets until that 24 hour period has passed. This means players are less likely to continue depositing money in order to make up for the losses.
Self-Exclusion
One of the biggest services you can utilise is the GamSTOP self-exclusion scheme. This service allows you self-exclude from online gambling websites, preventing you from accessing them, and playing and depositing at them. Players can select how long they want to self-exclude from and will have to wait until that period has passed before they can begin gambling again.
What’s important to note is that this service applies to all online casinos and betting sites in the UK and the Gambling Commission (Which regulates the UK gambling industry) now requires all licensees to register with the GamSTOP service to better aid vulnerable customers.
Deposit Limits
Some online casinos provide customers with an option to set a deposit limit within a time frame (24 hours, weekly or monthly). Similarly to loss limits, customers who exceed the limit within the time frame receive a message and are prohibited from depositing and spending any more money. This is one of the most effective tools you can utilise at an online casino and we highly recommend you set some sort of limit – you can always change them later!
Block Transactions
Finally, more and more banking groups have begun giving customers a chance to block gambling transactions. When a gambler switches this on, they will be prohibited from making any gambling transactions with the bank. If a customer attempts to make a transaction with the block in place, the payment will be declined. Most of these options can be switched on via a banking provider’s mobile app and the UK banking groups offering this service now include Halifax, HSBC, Monzo, Barclays, and more.
If you follow the suggestions we laid out here, you’ll have no problem keeping your spending under control when gambling online. Take advantage of all of these services to keep you and your money safe.
