Gambling online is an act that is today protected by more rights than gambling at a land based casino. However, problem gambling is much harder to regulate online than it is offline, hence there have been many technologies developed to recognize and prevent the addiction. Data sharing fraud management company, Ethoca, have produced an exclusive self-exclusion service designed to combat problem gambling, which is being praised and advocated by eCOGRA, the Interactive Gaming Council, and GamCare.

Most self-exclusion services offered by online casinos and online gaming sites operate in such a way that certain limitations are imposed on gambling and the time actually spent gambling, for gamblers who feel that they are losing control of their situation and need strict help. Ethoca’s self-exclusion service is unique in that once these limitations have been reached, it restricts the gambler from logging back into the gaming site they have just used and are signed up with, and also prevents them from opening accounts at any other online gambling site using the Ethoca service.

Geoffrey Godbold, CEO of GamCare, stated that gambling addiction is an “industry wide problem”, yet it is something caused by only a small relative percentage of gamblers. IGC CEO, John Fitzgerald, believes that employing online technology is the best way to combat problem gambling, fraud prevention, and other common issues scourging the online gambling industry. If all or most online casinos are willing to utilize Ethoca’s distinctive new self-exclusion service, problem gambling can be tackled head on and nipped in the bud before it grows out of control.

Ethoca have been operating as a fraud management and data sharing service to the online gambling industry since only 2005, yet the possibilities they offer gamblers and casino operators are extraordinary. Hopefully, this will be a technology that all online gambling sites will appreciate as an extremely important factor in internet gaming, and employ the service as a joint effort in confronting problem gambling while it is still feasible.