The UK Gambling Commission created Gamstop as a way of ensuring that people with gambling problems would be protected from the potential consequences of excessive betting and risky betting. While this is a laudable and necessary goal, it should be borne in mind that it is hard to place limitations on casinos and betting sites without penalising people who have more complete control of their gambling habits and are able to walk away when they’ve done what they came to do. This has brought about a situation in which more people are looking for options for non Gamstop betting UK. Fortunately, we are not short of options in that regard.
That being said, it is also true that any bettor needs to be careful, and when you are deliberately betting without the restrictions put in place by the UKGC and Gamstop, you will have to do a lot of the groundwork yourself where safety is concerned. So it is useful to take a look at the differences between Gamstop betting and non Gamstop betting, and consider how you will deal with those differences when it comes to betting safely.
You can’t self exclude from all non Gamstop sites
If you only bet at UK sites, then there is a useful way to prevent things from escalating if you find that your betting is becoming a problem. It comes in the form of Gamstop’s self-exclusion program, which immediately bars you from all UK betting sites. All UK sites by law have to be signed up to Gamstop, so in one click you can remove the temptation to bet there. This does mean that you waive that option when you bet at non Gamstop sites. You can ask them individually to exclude you, and they generally will, but it is a good idea to limit the number of sites you use so this task doesn’t become problematic.
The casino is headquartered elsewhere
This is not a criticism of customer support departments at Non Gamstop betting UK sites, which is generally excellent. However, if you have bigger issues that need to be gone through in significant detail, it can be harder to do that with an offshore casino. If you are dealing with a head office in Curacao, remember that there is a time difference to deal with – usually they’re four hours behind the UK. In addition, if you need to argue things out with the licensing authority, it’s an accepted fact that Curacao eGaming are less likely to intervene in any meaningful way than the UKGC, because it’s legally simpler to do so when everyone is in the same country.
Not all licences are the same
A UKGC gambling licence costs money to secure, and carries a lot of very strict regulations. Losing those regulations can be beneficial, such as when you want a casino with higher limits, but the trade-off can be that you lose some protections. If those protections are important to you, look out for casinos that are based in Malta or Gibraltar, where the regulations are very customer-friendly.