Gambling Harm Solutions Taken by the Gambling Regulators

Gambling has been around for as long as we can remember. Today, we know that it could be entertaining, but it could also become a danger to someone’s financial, emotional, and personal life. This damage is called gambling harm.

As such, gambling regulators have taken steps to support gamblers. What are these measures? Let us take you through some of the specific things that they do to ensure safety for all.

Pandemic Ban on Gambling Institutions 

Gambling facilities are packed. And where there are people, there is always a risk of transmission. During the COVID-19 lockdown, gaming commissions closed gambling facilities. No one was allowed inside.

As time went by, and as we began to understand the virus better, different government institutions and gaming commissions issued a more relaxed form of lockdown. Now, gamers can visit land-based facilities to allow gamers to play card games with a dealer.

However, machines are still not available for many gamers. These machines are likely to cause a transmission because the virus can live on surfaces for a long time.

Education Online 

Organizations like GamCare offer a lot of helpful information on their website to prevent and address gambling harm. Gambling facilities also work with them through training and seminar to teach employees how to tackle gambling harm.

One great thing that GamCare does is called Youth Outreach Program. Here, the organization works with another group called YGAM or the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust. As of this time, both groups are delivering education to young people in several areas like England and Scotland.

What they do is to provide advice to young people to help them understand the dangers of gambling. The budget for this is ten million pounds, and they teach young people the necessary skills to make strong decisions against gambling addiction.

Cooperation with Other Institutions

GamCare not only conducts educational programmes, but they also operate the National Gambling Hotline. According to GamCare, about 70% of people experiencing gambling harm also suffer some form of financial problems.

What they did was to work with various institutions to address this. In 2019, the organization met with banks and other gambling support groups to take a closer look at the financial side of the problem. This meeting resulted in the sharing of information between different organizations, which lead to better analysis.

Now, organizations can detect problems before they escalate. The Advisory Group of the board now has representation from different sectors, and they can work with individuals to help curb their gambling problems.

Legislations to Prevent Gambling Harm

Some people play Golden Goddess free slots and other games for fun, but some develop a bad habit. This habit is what takes the player into a downward spiral into gambling addiction, which some casinos may take advantage of. Because of this, government institutions like the UK Gambling Commission have to step in.

To be able to reduce gambling harm, the UKGC is calling for more support. For example, the chief of the organization may call upon legislators and other leaders in the financial industry to curb gambling harm. These meetings are all in favour of the gambling addict, and they are looking for new ways to detect and stop gambling addiction.

A conference like this will be a huge benefit to the gamblers if the financial sector is involved. The way we see it, there will soon be legislation making it mandatory for banks and other financial institutions to provide the government with their database.

If a person has a gambling problem, the financial institution, or the card issuer, can block requests from this person to withdraw cash or from using his card to deposit money to gambling facilities—both offline or online. As such, he can gamble no more. 

Summary

Gambling is a controllable problem, and gambling harm is something that we can prevent. We are happy that there are government institutions and independent third-party organizations that care enough to make this happen.

As always, gambling harm can easily be prevented if you play with the right mindset. You may play slot machines free games, and you may think it is fun. It is, but you have to ensure that you are in control and that you only play because you need to be entertained for a short period of time.

Never ever try to chase your losses, or view gambling as a way to earn an income. If you do this, you will start your journey into a mess of financial issues and personal troubles.