Affected others talk about how gambling companies do not do what they were supposed to and did not intervene when the person was gambling dangerously. Rather, gambling companies reward them to gamble more.
Affected others talked about how gambling companies used VIP schemes to encourage people to gamble more. People mention how they are given rewards, like days out, and are made to feel special and important.
Knowing what I know now, I probably see that he was targeted through, well, if he’s regularly gambling and then gets invited to go and watch the races and then by gambling more, they get access to all areas or whatever to the horse racing. Then there’s that incentive to keep gambling and that lifestyle that comes with it.
Parents describe how gambling companies cross-sold their children faster, more continuous gambling products, where it is easier to lose lots of money fast. These products are more profitable for gambling companies, but more addictive and harmful for consumers. For example, sports bettors are pushed to in-play betting, or casinos and slots.
He started and he became addicted to the products… He very quickly was cross sold within a short period of time, say months into more, of those most addictive products. Roulette is an example of one that he was into, and they just grew the addiction to such a high level.
When people start with sports betting they get cross-sold these online games. You can’t even watch a game of football or darts or anything like that with not being constantly bombarded with betting, in-play gambling.
Others describe how even though gambling companies know that somebody has experience difficulties, they will still send them offers and promotions. One affected other described how once their brother had died, they were sickened by the number of messages that their brother was receiving from gambling companies as well as those they were in debt to.
I guess linked to that earlier point of it’s so crazy to me that people know that you’re a recovering gambling addict and will literally send you bets and things.
I dealt with everything when he died and I had his phone. Literally, his phone was bombarded with two things. It was text messages and emails from online gambling people, offering all sorts, all the time. I had it on for 48 hours, and I must have got 60 or 70 notifications, and equally, phone calls, emails, and text messages from people that he was in massive debt to. I cannot imagine. It made me feel sick holding that phone and I thought, “This isn’t me and my life.” I’m not really surprised he ended up where he ended up because I can’t imagine living like that.
Affected others describe their own experiences with receiving marketing communications from gambling companies and how certain tactics such as big rollover are used to entice people to gamble.
I was doing this survey thing. And as part of it, it wanted you to sign up to go and do this, that and the other. I hadn’t heard anything from them for ages. I think it’s been four months, and then I don’t know if there’s been a big rollover… they sent me two texts in one day. I thought this is the thing that if you don’t unsubscribe and then it just plants a little seed and “Oh a rollover, I could be it, somebody’s got to win it”.
Affected others talk about how difficult it was for their partner to self-exclude because of insufficient processes and training in place in high-street betting shops.
We then went in Ladbrokes, “We’ve come in to self-exclude.” This is just a few doors along. These places are everywhere. Somebody would walk up the high street and realise they are everywhere. We went to Ladbrokes, and they went, “Oh, here’s a leaflet. Contact them.” I can guarantee you he could go in Ladbrokes right now and won’t get turned away. You can’t get excluded from all Ladbrokes. Only that one. You have to go through the whole thing again to get– Self-exclusion doesn’t mean squat. There’s no such thing.
Parents described how blocking tools and gambling company verification checks were ineffective to stop their children from accessing online gambling websites.
[Son] last week showed us here how he could, even though he is on Gamban, and he is self-excluded, he signed up to three online betting companies, and deposited money before he was asked to verify who he is… And even with one of them, with the verification, they asked for his driver’s license, which he emailed in, and they still allowed him to continue.
They say there are checks in place, and for some companies, they do their due diligence. They do the verification before you’re allowed to deposit money. Yet, three times on Friday, [son] opened three new accounts, deposited money, and did a spin on each one, then withdrew the money back into his account, and only one of them asked for his driver’s license, and still verified him. That’s not supposed to happen.
If you think he was, he was allowed to open up an account with Leo Vegas. They closed him down because he was making suicidal comments on their chat. To my knowledge, they never did a welfare check, but they might have done but I doubt it. And then six, seven months later he’s allowed to open up an account with a subsidiary with the same name, same email, same home address, and then deposit 20 grand in a day. That’s outrageous.