Ban the use of credit cards for gambling.

stupidsusie

Zebedee69 wrote: »

Dont see why the rest of us should suffer because some stupid bloke gambled his life away........................

What annoys me is that this country allows people to play the hard done by trick and get free houses, dss, compensation and lots of pats on the back. Meanwhile the rest of us who work hard to achieve and manage our lives and money responsibly get nothing but a big f u c k y o u.......

Makes you want to stop trying, get some kids, a council house and spend my life down William Hill with a can of Special Vat. When you want to retire just sue William Hill and move to Spain................. nice!

I am contributing to this thread as someone who has 'gambled her life away' using credit cards online (now over £150,000 in debt, and recently redundant).......

Do I think credit card companies should stop gambling transactions? No...the vast majority of people can have the odd 'bet' and enjoy it and why should everyone be penalised because a small number of people such as myself develop a gambling addiction? What would be far more useful is an option with all credit cards (a bit like being able to choose whether to have a cash withdrawal facility) to enable people to choose to block themselves from using their card to gamble.

Just a note on the post I have quoted here as well.....i'm not sure that things are ever that black and white......people can't be divided this way.....

To illustrate what I mean here are some interesting figures for you as relates to my life up to a few months ago....

Years in full time continuous employment since starting work - 12
Tax paid in that time - £180,291
Benefits of any kind claimed - £0
Missed payments on any cards / loans etc - 0
Pension built up £12,000pa in today's money (i'm 35)

I'm not proud of what i've done, but I do think there are shades of grey.

Susie

Paul_Herring

stupidsusie wrote: »

What would be far more useful is an option with all credit cards (a bit like being able to choose whether to have a cash withdrawal facility) to enable people to choose to block themselves from using their card to gamble.

Something like this already exists, and Mr Calvert used just such a facility, but he chose to overrride it (which is why he is/was attempting to sue William Hill - for allowing him to override it, even though there was little they could apparently do to stop him.)

HTH.

stupidsusie

No i'm not sure it does.

What you can do is ask gambling companies to exclude you from being allowed to gamble with them whether using cash / cards or whatever. So if it's a casino they should check all ID and not let you in if you've self-excluded, if it's a bookies the same thing, if it's online and you self-exclude (which I have done) if you then try to use the account you are told you have self excluded and cannot place any bets. The whole point of these things is that if you are a problem gambler you can take steps to help yourself by 'banning yourself' from gambling. Once you have asked to be excluded companies should not allow you to place bets according to the responsible gambling code. I am assuming that this is what this bloke did with WH ie asked to be self excluded and not allowed to bet. They then allowed him to bet anyway (for whatever reason, perhaps he was very persuasive). My view on this case is that if the bloke did ask to be excluded and WH still let him bet they have certainly broken the responsible gambling code, whether they should be liable for the debt is an entirely different matter - this bloke and other gamblers are still responsible for their actions at the end of the day.

As far as I know there are no credit cards offering the 'self exclusion' option, they either allow gambling transactions or they don't across the board.

Susie

Paul_Herring

My point was there is a facility to help people with a gambling problem stop gambling - it exists with the companies that allow people to gamble.

How is complicating this by expecting credit card companies to selectively ban certain types of transactions going to help?

stupidsusie

I believe it would help....if there were only a few gambling companies then self exclusion with each of the companies involved would be the way forward....however there must be hundreds of online gambling sites with more popping up each day. In order to self exclude you have to set up an account....ususally with a credit card.....and then exclude yourself from that account. You'd just never be able to exclude yourself from all the sites - and that takes no account of those less responsible companies who don't allow you to self exclude / are outside the UK regulations etc.

I believe that the more ways there are for people to help themselves, the better all round. And financial institutions would be well able to set this kind of thing up easily. Alll transactions made throuigh cards are classified anyway, so it would just be a case of applying a marker to an individuals account on request. That way those who want to exclude themselves can, without affecting others who don't want these restrictions placed on them.

I have been told that someone is developing a 'central database' which problem gamblers will be able to register on, which would exclude them from all forms of gambling, which would be the ultimate answer I guess.

jamesd

It won't be the ultimate answer because it'll still be possible to use money transfer services to deposit money with a place where bets can be placed, whether on what is traditionally called gambling or on share price movements with spread bets. It may be helpful for anyone who is willing to stay self-excluded rather than try to circumvent it.

stupidsusie

that's a good point....especially re spreadbetting / shares type stuff, which I guess would be gambling for some but for others a form of sensible financial management.

S

tupperware

I fully support the Graham Calvert courtcase - not necessarily because he will win or even because he is in the right - but because I fully expect the outcome of this will be that bookmakers will be forced to stop merely paying "lip service" to exclusion programmes and help for addicts and become accountable.

A registration programme before betting at any UK bookmaker which would then allow gamblers to exclude themselves from betting with any company within the UK would be welcomed.

It would be so easily incorporated and would help thousands upon thousands of people. Perhaps even include monthly statements detailing how much each person had gambled/won/lost to help hammer home the figures.

On topic - It's a pretty difficult call. I do see why this is a reasonable idea but I also don't like further restrictions on the personal liberty of individuals. Strikes me that a lot of the problems we encounter on this forum - charges, fees, APRs come down to the complete lack of education our government provides kids on the subject. We spend hours teaching them HE, Drama and Religious Education but don't give them five minutes discussing the things that will really affect their lives. Mortgates, Overdrafts, Current Accounts etc.

Thank God for this website. Everything i've learnt about finances has came from here. I'll be honest with you. I probably wouldn't have the slightest idea that a Credit Card charged you a ridicilous amount of interest for a cash withdrawl if it wasnt for this forum. And I dare say I would have suffered because of it.

leftfield20

Not been able to use credit cards for gambling transactions would be a good thing. This would have saved me lots of money. If you are addicted to something or have a problem or compulsion with something, it is difficuklt to stop and measures like not been able to use a credit card to gamble would go some way to helping people.
Currently it is illegal to use a credit card in a british casino to gain funds to gamble with (except through an ATM and limit is normally £300/£500) so the Gambling Commission must think it's a bad idea, so why not ban it for online gambling too? Why not? Becuase the servers are based abroad and out of the GC's jurisdication (for now).

Paul_Herring

dfub wrote:

so why not ban [credit cards] for online gambling too?

Because it prevents the vast majority of people without gambling problems from gambling as well?

Anyway, why stop there - why not ban the use of debit cards too?