GamStop is a UK-based non-profit organization founded in April 2018 to reduce the adverse effects of gambling. The organization acts as a shield and prevents compulsive gambling among addicts. Additionally, it promotes a self-exclusion scheme for punters so that they can limit their online gambling activities. The signing up to the self-exclusion scheme by GamStop is suitable as well as free of cost and is available to all who want to get rid of the addiction to gambling.
The self-exclusion period depends on the choice of the punter – six months, a year, and even as long as five years at the end of the registration. While registering personal details like legal name, address, email address and contact numbers are to be provided. When the details are entered and verified by the system, the self-exclusion tenure is activated within 24 hours. During this exclusion period, you can only place bets not on GamStop via NGS sites that operate in the United Kingdom are accessible. The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has gone to the extent of making GamStop an essential condition for gambling operators to secure their licenses, breaching or bypassing it will result in big fines and even confiscation of license. Once the period has passed, they can begin gambling again. Thus, GamStop can monitor and curtail excessive gambling amongst all gamblers within its sphere of influence.
Association of GamStop with football leagues
Football leagues in the UK have openly supported initiatives designed to promote safe and responsible gambling to avoid criticism for their involvement with gambling. The majority of professional UK football clubs support responsible gambling, but a few prefer to be more direct about their support of GamStop and responsible gambling initiatives. Clubs that have already partnered with GamStop are Luton Town, Crystal Palace, and Middlesbrough.
Associazione Sportiva Roma (AS Roma), commonly known as Roma, is a professional football club based in Rome that has millions of fans worldwide. By partnering with Roma, GamStop hopes to promote more awareness of self-exclusion and responsible gambling. Furthermore, the partnership with Roma will allow GamStop to reach millions of football fans and also make it easier for it to partner with other big clubs. Though GamStop has a positive influence on gambling addicts and punters it has several ill impacts on the football league clubs. A brief discussion will be done on the topic.
Problems Roma may face on joining GamStop
The main aim of the collaboration with GamStop by the A. S. Roma club was to openly denounce any gambling-related corruption within the football community. GamStop ideas are not explicitly antigambling, but they do affect operators’ revenues. The aim was primarily to curb the allure of reckless betting and gambling in addicts. But the GamStop scheme prevents regular punters from controlling their urge in betting which is disadvantageous for gambling companies. They earn more when a regular punter spends recklessly on betting. But the agenda of responsible gaming and the compulsion of promoting self-exclusion schemes have restricted the company to gain more. Therefore, gambling brands may be reluctant to sponsor a club that promotes a scheme that keeps punters away from their sites for months.
Merchandise, advertisements, stadium rights, and promotions are all high-margin sources of revenue for a football club. A huge sum of the sponsorship comes from betting companies as well. Roma has many official betting partners among which Asia-facing operators like AYX, KB88.com, and Allwin city are well known. These companies also take advantage of the agreement to promote the Roma brand on digital platforms and social media, which will help the club to gain greater exposure across Asia. The use of self-exclusion schemes by GamStop has an ill impact on the sponsorship revenue provided by the above-mentioned companies. Lack of revenue will put the club at risk since it will struggle to pay its members, they will have to sell important players to curb expenses. This will ultimately be doom for an esteemed club.
Moreover, football is a prestigious sport that attracts a huge amount of sponsorships. An organization sponsoring a reputable club like Roma will be considered esteemed as well. If there is a proper fund flow, the club can focus on training resulting in an excellent performance in the game rather than straining on fundraising. So, associating with an organization like GamStop that preaches reasonable gambling will shoo away betting partners as they will pull out their sponsorships.
Conclusion
Although GamStop has a positive influence on addictive punters and reckless gamblers, it can have some adverse effects on football league clubs like Roma. There is plenty of news that some clubs started partnerships with the program. They can drive away a huge sum of revenue earned from promotions provided by betting companies. Responsible gambling will make regular gamblers turn their back and will also impact the flow of finance. In this regard, many operators dislike the idea of self-exclusion schemes, but due to the compulsion of UKGC, they are forced to follow.
