Global Self-Exclusion Initiative Officially Launched

Author: Simon Vincze Last updated: 14 Nov 2023 08:02

After months of behind-the-scenes work, we are pleased to announce the official launch of the initiative to build a global self-exclusion system, with the goal of making online gambling safer for everyone and reducing harm caused by it to vulnerable players.

At Casino Guru, in our never-ending efforts to increase player safety and game fairness, we are always looking for things to improve in the gambling industry. When reviewing online casinos and helping players with casino-related complaints, we keep noticing that current self-exclusion tools do not sufficiently protect players from harm. So, we decided to try to make them better and more effective, by launching this initiative.

Why global self-exclusion is needed and how it can help

Self-exclusion is one of the most effective tools to reduce gambling-related harm caused to vulnerable players. It allows players to block their access to gambling and therefore limit the negative impact of it on their lives.

However, the effectiveness of self-exclusion is limited due to the scope of current options:

• Players that self-excluded from one casino can easily go around this limitation by playing at a different one.
• Players that make use of national or license-wide self-exclusion schemes can usually find foreign casinos that are not part of these schemes and will allow them to gamble online, often in spite of regulations in players' countries.

This is the main issue global self-exclusion could help fix. If there was a truly global system in place, players would have an effective tool that could stop them from playing despite their efforts to circumvent the system when feeling cravings to start gambling again.

We also think that current self-exclusion options are lacking in other ways. For example, self-excluded players should be excluded from receiving or seeing gambling-related ads and promotional materials, but the closedness of the system limits its effectiveness in this regard.

Current self-exclusion tools also vary greatly in regard to their technical implementation and ease of use. We think that an overly complicated or unusual self-exclusion process can result in fewer players actually going through with it and self-excluding.

Additionally, we feel that self-excluded players could benefit from a closer cooperation with problem gambling help and prevention centers, helping them overcome problem gambling or reduce gambling-related harm more than self-exclusion alone can.

How we plan to work towards our goal

We launched this initiative, because we knew that we would never be able to achieve something like this alone. Successfully carrying out such an ambitious project requires cooperation of multiple and varied members of the gambling industry.

That is why the first stage of the project is to spread awareness of the issue and collect feedback, predominantly from industry professionals. We will try to get the word out, so that as many people as possible know about what we want to achieve.

The more people are aware of this initiative, the more likely we are to find enough interested parties to join it and work with us towards achieving the ambitious goals.

Additionally, the feedback we receive will give us insights from different perspectives and help us fine-tune the next steps that should be taken.

Once we find a sufficient number of interested individuals or institutions, we will start working on specific frameworks and solutions that can be implemented to make our idea a reality.

What we envision a global self-exclusion system could work like

While our vision is likely to change based on future conversations with other members of the gambling industry, we do have an idea about how things could work if there is a global self-exclusion system in place in the future.

We aim to create a reliable global self-exclusion system that allows people to self-exclude from all online gambling opportunities at once, regardless of what country they are from.

To add to that, we hope to be able to provide excluded players with resources and help needed to address the underlying issue of addiction, instead of just limiting their access to gambling, to increase the chances of their full recovery.

The goal is for this system to become an industry standard, similar to current self-exclusion options or even the basic fundamentals "18+" that are followed by all gambling sites on the internet, even ones with questionable intentions and practices in other areas of operation.

That said, there is a huge way to go before we get anywhere close to this level. We need to start with the basics, which is why the first step is to get in touch with other interested members of the gambling industry and looking for ways to move forward together.

What you can do to help

If you are interested to learn more or get involved, don't hesitate to contact us. We are open to any feedback, questions, suggestions, or anything else that you feel we should know about.

Let's make online gambling safer, together.

About author

Simon Vincze

Simon Vincze leads Casino Guru's long-term ambitions projects related to player safety, responsible gambling, and improving the entire industry, including the Global Self-Exclusion Initiative. Together with other members of the Casino Guru team, he will be the main driving force behind the initiative, advocating for player safety, as well as looking for partners and ways to make our idea a reality.