“Banning” Yourself from a Casino: How Does This Work

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Every year, thousands of people are becoming gambling addicts, while thousands of addicts are already undergoing treatment to get rid of this problem. And even these numbers may be only the tip of the iceberg!

If you understand that something went wrong, and you spend more and more time in a gambling venue, you can look for different methods to stop yourself from visiting the casino. There must be trillions of ways to get banned from a casino; however, we’re going to show you the self-exclusion way of coping with an addiction.

What Is Self-Exclusion

The process of self-exclusion includes voluntary banning from all gambling venues: including casinos, racetracks, off-betting establishments, etc. This means that a compulsive gambler should make a request to be banned, indicating the duration of their ban, which needs to be reviewed and approved by a casino. After that, the player’s name will be included among other relevant names in the exclusion list for all gambling venues.

There are three ways of processing a self-exclusion:

• Self-exclude, one operator at a time
• Self-exclusion scheme
• Anti-gambling software

While choosing to ban yourself for a certain period of time (a month, a year or a lifetime ban), it cannot be canceled. And if you ever decide to reopen your account, it’s going to be thoroughly checked. And you obviously shouldn’t expect a positive response if you’ve chosen to self-exclude yourself permanently.

However, many experts believe that banning yourself from a casino isn’t enough to heal problem gamblers. The process should be strengthened with visits to a psychotherapist, along with constant self-improvement.

Blocking Software

If you successfully cut out land-based casinos from your life, don’t forget about the existence of online venues. Gambling is everywhere, 24/7, 365 days a year. And for problem gamblers, it’s incredibly difficult to give up this toxic circle, especially when new venues are opening every day.

And that’s where gambling-banning software comes to the rescue. It helps people to kick the habit by blocking approximately 40,000 gambling sites and apps from the user’s devices, as well as removing skin betting, e-sports games, cryptocurrencies, and trading websites. Gambling-blocking software doesn’t allow users to choose the content to block, so all gaming facilities are going to be ruled out for problem gamblers.

Limits

If self-banning from casinos is too much of a radical method for your liking, a more democratic way of treating your gambling addiction is to set yourself some sensible limits.

So players can set, for instance, a deposit limit, which then restricts the amount of money they can deposit in their accounts over a set period of time. This helps gamblers to manage their bankrolls, thus preventing them from paying out more than wanted in a given period of time.

Another possible restriction that can help you prevent toxic gambling is to set loss limits. This will reduce the amount of money you can lose; so once you reach the limit, the casino will automatically prevent you from gambling beyond it.

Wager limits are based on the actual bets made by a player, independently of the deposits or losses. They are set in conjunction with the time frame, and they’re considered to be the best option for gamblers who want to control their gaming budget.

Illegal Betting

Even though self-exclusion programs are quite effective, there is nothing preventing a person from seeking alternatives to gambling: for instance, illegal betting.

At least 11% of self-excluded players do try to enter a gambling establishment at some point, so we can only imagine the percentage of gamblers who utilize illegal betting to try and fulfil their desire to hit the jackpot!

Self-banning programs are hard to enforce, which is why it shouldn’t be somehow considered to be the ultimate treatment for gambling addiction.

Tips to Consider while Self-Excluding

Gambling establishments are just too exciting and entertaining. That’s why, when you’re self-excluding, you should consider these tips to relieve the kind of pressure that risks triggering your gambling problem:

• Refuse all emails and SMS marketing from gambling operators
• Have a conversation with your relatives and friends, so they don’t provoke you with talks about gambling
• Find someone to talk to — it can be incredibly hard to go through it on your own, so it’s important to have someone by your side, be it a friend or a mentor
• Unfollow all the brands associated with gambling on your social media
• Avoid Googling anything about games, as this will trigger a plethora of ads offering you free spins and promoting casinos
• Man up!

To Sum Up

Voluntary self-banning programs are one legislated solution for compulsive gambling, but not the only one. So if they dare join the program, the player must be brave enough not to fall for daily triggers.

However, if you encounter a potential gambling problem, or know someone who does, don’t expect a self-exclusion program to provide instant results. This is all hard work for an addict.

You May Also Find This Helpful…

• Who are the participants in the self-exclusion program?

An interesting fact: users of the self-exclusion program live in close proximity to gambling establishments, with easy access to these places. With that said, the players who have negative stimuli around have a tendency to fall more for addictive gambling; therefore, they are more likely to seek assistance.

• Can I volunteer someone else for self-exclusion?

Self-exclusion programs are 100% based on voluntary participation. This means that the player herself or himself should take the initiative in self-banning.

• Is self-exclusion effective enough?

By now, a lot of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of self-banning programs. As we mentioned above, about 11% of self-exclusion programs break the agreement every year. We should also not forget about those who continue gambling, but illegally. Nevertheless, the sheer willpower shown by the volunteers who have agreed to participate in this recovery is already a small step towards recovery.

• Can I cancel my self-exclusion anytime?

No. Once a self-banning agreement has been concluded for a set period of time, the gambling venue must immediately close your account and return all the money in your account. They must also remove your name and details from any database the company uses.