GAMSTOP, the UK’s self-exclusion programme for online gambling, released its 2021 figures on Wednesday. The data shows that registrations increased by 28% from 2020 to 2021.
In particular, the first six months of 2021 saw a 25% increase compared to the same period last year. As a result, by the turn of the year, the total number of registered persons had grown to more than 257,000. Wonders, play yoju casino 2023 Check out our review!
Innovations in GAMSTOP
GAMSTOP was only launched in 2019. However, according to the organisation, the annual review was introduced to provide a deeper insight into trends in gambling behaviour in the UK.
GAMSTOP recently launched the new Single Customer View programme to optimise its offering in partnership with the BGC gambling association. The study [page in English] aims to identify particularly at-risk players.
As soon as a customer of an online casino shows signs of an addiction problem, he can be prevented from switching to another operator. Through this approach, GAMSTOP wants to ensure that even those who did not want their data to be stored in a database like the GAMSTOP blocking system would be protected from harm.
Understanding the user profile is crucial
When analysing the data, it was found that 50 % of the registered persons had opted for the maximum blocking period of five years. On the other hand, 24 % had excluded themselves for one year, and another 25 % had chosen the option of a six-month player ban.
There was a slight tendency for people to opt for shorter ban periods. However, in 2020, 55 % had still set the maximum ban period when they registered.
Male users were still in the majority. Thus, men made up 70 % of the registered persons. The analysis also showed that 43 % of GAMSTOP users were between 25 and 34 years old.
Whether the increase in registrations is related to the pandemic and the associated restrictions are difficult to assess, explained GAMSTOP CEO, Fiona Palmer.
However, it was clear that self-exclusion was becoming an increasingly important tool for all those individuals who wanted to resist the temptations of gambling, Palmer said.
Palmer elaborated:
‘We will continue to work to ensure that people have access to the tools that are essential to their recovery.”
Palmer concluded that the success was also due to the many dedicated partners who worked to raise awareness of GAMSTOP among gamblers.