In the summer of 2008 I lost more than 50,000 EUR in a
period of just two months playing online roulette and slots via my notebook and
mobile phone.
Tweets by @GamblingHurts
At one point I was actually 16,000 EUR in profit but the
casino concerned kept enticing me back with promotions to keep me playing. Of
course as a gambling addict I couldn’t resist and it wasn’t long before I was
into the red.
Now into the zone of chasing losses the casino had me
completely hooked and they would refund me quite large percentages of my losses
as free credit to keep me going and to ensure that over time they took all of
my money.
I was gambling max bets on a single number which for this particular casino was £100 per number. Neither my bank nor the online casino saw anything strange in my making multiple £1000 + deposits from my credit cards with sometimes minutes in between.
When I flagged up to the casino that I had a problem they offered a responsible gambling limit of £25,000 monthly! and even more promotions to keep me gambling.
I played at all times of day and night until the money ran out and I had spent more than £50,000 on credit cards.
With the UK online gambling now a £2 billion business gambling addiction has become a serious problem.
It is time to regulate the online gambling industry to protect against gambling addiction and make it illegal to accept credit cards / overdrafts for online gambling transactions.
As an argument for balance between safeguarding vulnerable people like myself and freedom of choice it makes sense.
When I flagged up to the casino that I had a problem they offered a responsible gambling limit of £25,000 monthly! and even more promotions to keep me gambling.
I played at all times of day and night until the money ran out and I had spent more than £50,000 on credit cards.
With the UK online gambling now a £2 billion business gambling addiction has become a serious problem.
It is time to regulate the online gambling industry to protect against gambling addiction and make it illegal to accept credit cards / overdrafts for online gambling transactions.
As an argument for balance between safeguarding vulnerable people like myself and freedom of choice it makes sense.
