How Poker Rooms Protect Players From Gambling Addiction
Gambling addiction is a global reality that deserves urgent attention.
Gamblers who do not gamble responsibly often end up with addiction problems. This usually happens when they gamble compulsively, chase losses, or spend more money than they can afford.
These behaviors can lead to serious illnesses if they are not addressed promptly.
And, what is worse, not only the players are affected by these addiction problems, but also their families, friends and other people around them, especially when the situation is uncontrollable.
In Spain, according to the EDADES and ESTUDES reports on Behavioral Addictions that were published in 2020, there are around 680,000 gamblers or people addicted to gambling.
In Mexico, for its part, according to the Center for Attention to Gambling and Integral Growth, in 2017 there were 4 million people with some type of problem related to gambling.
4 measures to prevent gambling addiction problems
Let’s take a look at the actions that online poker room operators implement to protect their users from problem gambling .
# age restriction
Regulated online poker sites require registering players to upload some type of valid identification documentation to the platform verifying that they are of legal age.
Thus, users must be at least 18 years of age to play, otherwise they will not be able to create an account. This measure is important, since recent studies show that gambling problems are becoming more frequent among young players.
# Keep track of losses
On the other hand, the best online poker rooms also help their customers control spending and losses . Once a player either reaches the maximum spending limit or loses a certain amount of money, the operator will send them a notification in the form of a pop-up message informing them of the situation.
# Deposit and time limits
Online poker rooms also allow players to set their own deposit limits to control the amount of money they bet . These limits can be set daily, weekly, or monthly, and cannot be easily changed. Additionally, players will have no choice but to abide by such limits for a period of time.
Online poker operators also allow you to set game time limits . This prevents users from abusing the number of hours they spend betting and playing reasonable time slots. Game time limits can also be set for each day, week or month. If these limits are reached, the player is automatically excluded from being able to play in any poker games or freeroll tournaments on the site.
# Self-exclusion
Finally, we should mention that the most effective way for players to protect themselves from gambling addiction problems is self- exclusion . This means that they will not be able to access the poker rooms for a certain period of time, which will depend on the personal situation of each user.
It is possible to self-exclude for half a year, a year and even several years. As long as the self-exclusion remains active, said player will not be allowed access to any poker sites.
