I have reported on so many stories recently which involved those making use of Government backed loans and grants but using them for purposes other than supporting their businesses through the pandemic, I decided that I would spend some time finding out why that was, and what those funds were used for.
Apart from the obvious purchase of Rolex watches and flash cars with such funds, it does appear a fair chunk went on crypto investments and even more went on gambling.
During lockdown, it is true and fair to say, many people were living in fear and many were also close to the edge, not knowing what the future held for them or whether there would be a future.
One way for anyone in such a frame of mind to escape their darkest of hours was gambling online or via their mobile devices, and that is an actively you may have partaken in during your enforced time off work.
Many online gambling firms did put measures into place during those long months of uncertainty, by limiting the amount their customers could deposit and gamble, and some gamblers also self-excluded themselves using a service called GamStop to remove any risk of them losing their money.
In layman’s terms, Gamstop is a way for someone who realises that they may have a gambling problem to self-excluded themselves rapidly from every single UK online casino and other gambling sites.
By completing a quick and simple online form they can effectively ban themselves from all such sites, and any attempt to sign up as a new customer of any casino licenced in the UK is instantly blocked.
If that is the case, then how was it possible for someone to deposit and gamble tens of thousands of pounds with such safeguards in place. Well, I discovered a large number of Casinos not on GamStop in the UK.
Circumventing a UK Casino GamStop Ban
The way in which anyone can circumvent a self-imposed UK casino site GamStop ban is sadly straight forward enough, for all one needs to do is to find a casino not licensed nor regulated in the UK.
Due to failings in some licensing jurisdictions, signing up to a casino that is regulated in most other countries of the world will allow you to then being able to deposit, play gamble and win or lose at such a site, irrespective of whether you have added your name to the GamStop register or not.
Whilst some gamblers do of course win big, most will lose their bankrolls as that is the very nature of games of chance. So the only way you could protect yourself from the dangers of gambling online is to either stay offline or install a piece of software that will instantly block you from visiting any website related to gambling, and there are such things available.
Payment Methods at Casinos that are Not on GamStop
Those who do have a gambling related problem as also offered a featured via their banking as that allows them to block any transactions to gambling sites.
That is a very handy feature, for with it switch on and activated, no matter how hard you may try you will not be able to deposit funds via your debit card into any gambling site.
However, what I discovered is that some casinos not on GamStop will give your transactions using a debit card a different coding, which means your bank doesn’t recognise them as a gambling site deposits and allows them to be processed.
Winnings from such a site are then instantly deposited back to your bank account using a different company name from the one the casino uses.
Most gamblers however tend to use crypto as a deposit and withdrawal option from non GamStop casinos, as there are no limits on how much you can depositing using digital currencies and therein lies the danger for those who cannot control their slot or table game play.
Most Played GamStop Casino Games
Any casino site that caters from those on GamStop will often shower players with bonuses, to entice them to make a deposit, but will often limit those layers to using their bonus funds on the games that offer the worst payout odds and the biggest house edge.
Here, in order, are the games that are the most popular ones in most online, mobile, and even land based casinos
- Roulette
- Slot Machines
- Blackjack
- Video Poker
- Progressive Games
Games such as Blackjack and Video poker tend to offer the best returns, however even games with very high payout percentages such as those types of games could result in you losing a huge amount of cash, even over a relatively short space of time.
Roulette games, much more so the standard single zero variants offer their lowest house edge, but as some non GamStop casinos are located overseas, they often tend to offer the double and even triple zero variants, which boasts appallingly low paybacks.
Slot machines all have their own standalone RTPs and as such you need to check to see just how high or low that payout percentage is, or you could make the often made mistake of playing a slot which boasts a tiny RTP.
As for the cash cows of most casinos in the UK not on GamStop, well they are any games that boast one or more regressive jackpots, as a small percentage of each stake you wager is fed into the jackpot pool, thus reducing the normal base game payouts.
As such, if, like most layers, you never win one of those jackpots, then your stakes have simply been funding other players jackpots.
Just make sure that you take every precaution possible if you do gamble online, if not then you could become a statistic and become one of the never-ending stream of people who end up losing and suffering the many consequences of gambling activities that have spiralled out of control.