It’s not uncommon for people to ask for funds to be withdrawn from their betting account and then to change their mind and want to actually place some bets or play some games with that money. In the past, they would have been able to reverse the withdrawal request and keep the money in the account, but that was changed when it was acknowledged that the service was mainly used by problem gamblers.
Nowadays, therefore, people have to allow the withdrawal request to go through before they can then re-deposit that money into their accounts. It isn’t ideal, but the result of the change in the rules is that withdrawals take place much faster than they used to. In the past, some companies seemed to make the withdrawal process take a long time in order to encourage people to reverse the decision to withdraw funds.
What The Rules Are
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission is always looking to improve the safeguards that are in place for punters. Whenever something gets flashed up as a problem, the UKGC investigates and makes a decision that it feels is the most appropriate for bettors in general. So it was in 2020 that the Gambling Commission made a decision to ban the practice of allowing customers to reverse a withdrawal request.
Between March 2019 and June 2020, there was a reduction in people using the withdrawal reversal facility by about 7%, but at the same time those customers that did do it tended to do so nearly five times a month. The UKGC believed this indicated the fact that the ability to reverse a withdrawal was contributing to more intensive play that gamblers were engaged with, stopping them from ending their session or taking a break.
As a result, the Gambling Commission stopped the practice of customers being able to reverse a withdrawal request. As a result, those that wish to have the money that they’re attempting to withdraw back in their account cannot request a reversal of the withdrawal. Instead, punters need to wait until the money has reached their bank account, at which point they can then re-deposit it into their betting account.
What Used To Happen
In the past, a customer that had requested a withdrawal of funds from their betting account could get in touch with the company and ask them to reverse the withdrawal. The result of this would be that money that was destined to head to a bank account would instead be re-credited to the betting account. This would allow the punter to place bets with it when it should really have been in their bank account instead.
Whilst some of the people engaging in the practice of reversing their withdrawal request will have been doing so for entirely legitimate reasons, there’s no doubt that it was a tool that problem gamblers would abuse. If you’re someone that has a problem with gambling, it takes a lot to withdraw money from your betting account instead of continuing to bet with it. Having asked for the money, the temptation to stop the withdrawal will have been huge.
In the case of some betting companies, it seemed as if they would intentionally make the withdrawal process take a long time in order to tempt the withdrawer to reverse their decision. The more money that is in a betting account, the more likely it is that it is going to be gambled with and therefore the increased likelihood that it will be lost. The Gambling Commission rightly decided that this practice was not good for problem gamblers.
Faster Withdrawals
The Gambling Commission’s decision to stop the ability to reverse a withdrawal request has led some gambling companies to speed up the withdrawal process. Obviously the likes of the payment method used goes some way to dictating how quickly a customer will get their money paid into their account, but generally speak the entire process is much faster than it used to be.
That is because the companies know that the sooner the money reaches the customer’s bank account, the quicker it is that they’re more likely to re-deposit it and carry on betting. Most people that engage in gambling do so on a regular basis, meaning that the money that they’ve withdrawn won’t remain in their bank account for long. Instead, people are likely to put it back into their betting account so that they can place more wagers.
For those that do only dabble in betting, this is good news. It means that the money that they have won on a bet will be in their account much faster than it would have been in the past. Instead of having to wait an age to get their hands on their money, they will see it in their bank account in a matter of hours instead. Even this is a sensible move from the betting companies, given that it will encourage people to bet more when they know that they’ll get paid any winnings quite quickly.
Responsible Gambling
The decision to cancel the ability to reverse a withdrawal request was another move from the Gambling Commission to encourage more responsible gambling. It came in the wake of the UKGC’s move to ban the use of credit cards to make deposits, which was seen as a big problem as it encouraged people to rack up more debt in order to fund their betting account. With responsible gambling being the Gambling Commission’s watch words, the move made sense.
Neil McArthur, the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, said about the matter,
“Operators must use the data they hold to protect their customers and now, more than ever, it’s vital that online operators really know their customers by monitoring how long they are playing for and understanding how financial uncertainty is impacting them and what they can afford to gamble with. To ensure operators do that, we are strengthening our guidance and expect operators to take account of that to prevent bonus offers or inducements being offered to customers who are showing any sign of harm.”