According to recent figures gathered from the Gambling Commission via BBC Panorama, British betting companies have seen a huge increase in complaints from customers. Close to 5000% to be more exact, within the past five years. Problem gamblers have accused betting service companies of continuing to try and entice them to wager after they have asked to be removed from mailing lists.

Huge Jump from 2013 until 2018:

The figures show that from 2013 until 2018, there was a massive increase in customer complaints to the Commission regarding the betting companies. In 2013, only 169 complaints were registered. By last year, that number had skyrocketed to over 8,200.

According to The Guardian…

Gambling Commission Chief Executive, Neil McArthur, commented on the complaints by stating: “We are pushing the industry to know its customers, and part of this is actually, possibly, a good sign because it’s suggesting that consumers are demanding more of the gambling operators. And I would encourage them to continue to do that.”

Sites Facing Criticism:

An example of such criticism that sites are facing can be found in an incident that came to light back in April. In the United Kingdom, a female customer of Casumo and LeoVegas had run up losses of around £125,000 due to the sites not preventing her from gambling. The player normally spent lower amounts but one night started wagering much larger bets in the four-figure range at the Casumo online casino.

The unusual betting behavior was not noticed until around 11 hours later and an email was sent to the player. She responded that she was feeling suicidal. She was then allowed to continue betting until she was subsequently blocked from the site.

She then went to LeoVegas and lost just over £94,000 when wagering over £1 million at the site. Instead of limiting her play, the site offered her VIP status and allowed her to continue to place bets using multiple credit cards. The status was provided to the gambler despite the fact that she had completed 291 failed deposit attempts and cancelled withdrawals totally over £27,000, all signs that a gambling problem is potentially present.

Increased Funding Offer:

The top five gambling firms in the UK have offered to increase the amount of funding they are providing for addiction treatment to £60m a year in an effort to help problem gamblers. Critics do not feel that this is enough to help and have called the attempt a bribe to stop tougher regulations from being created.