Big win vs need help

[Fish on the river]

Hey guys, just making an observation. The big win section of the forum has 410 posts, and the need help section has 5. I wonder if this means that most people gamble responsibly, or that people with problems are afraid to ask for help. If it's the latter I wonder what we could do to help those people?

If anyone has an answer or an opinion I would be interested to hear it.

Thanks

[Chloe]

I can’t speak to how over 1,300 people view their gambling (assuming they all do still gamble), but I guess for me it seems like a combination of reasons. First, GAMSTOP is so readily available, and free to any UK players. Although I would help anyone who posted on the forum asking for help with their gambling, as would most other forum members, I would hope that anyone who gets to a point where they consider posting publicly to admit that they have a problem would bypass that altogether and go straight to GAMSTOP for their own safety. We will never be able to offer a better level of help than GAMSTOP, GamBan or BeGambleAware.

We’re also registered with GamBan so anyone who has signed up to block access to gambling sites won’t actually be able to access this site or the forum. It is unfortunate, as a lot of people have expressed concern as they wanted to join the forum discussions, and obviously there are no gambling activities available on this site, but Will and 2Jags both felt it better to err on the side of caution, especially with a big win gallery as you’ve noticed. 

All big wins go into the forum and I then move them to the gallery to make sure they go to the right place, and I’d say there’s probably only 100-150 unique posters? Each person who uploads a big win would usually have a few to upload, and some people have uploaded 10 or more, gathered up over the months where we didn’t have a very active forum. Some of the earlier ones were moved from the old site too (any from 2021). I’m not sure whether it would be considered better or worse for so many posts to come from a smaller group of people, but if we are comparing numbers I guess it’s important to factor in. 

I think gambling addictions will always be stigmatised, and a bit of a taboo topic, although they definitely shouldn’t be as they can affect everyone and anyone. But, like everything in life that can be destructive (for example alcohol) you will always find large numbers of people that can have a healthy relationship with it. Gambling problems affect so many, but there are also a great amount of people in control of their gambling. We leave the help topic open in case anyone does need help, and I just hope that as time goes on and people build relationships and a community feeling on the forum that they will feel more comfortable being open and honest regarding both present and past experiences. There are conversations behind the scenes too, and I know Will has messaged a few people based on posts he’s read on the forum to check in with them, and make sure they’re doing ok.

I definitely think people feel more comfortable having these discussions in private, as no one likes to admit they’re struggling. We see a much larger amount of people coming forward to discuss being on GAMSTOP after the fact, like telling us the money they’ve saved, or how much happier they are. It’s always a bit easier to talk about once the problem is a bit further behind you. But I hope that we continue to progress to discuss all additions, disorders and problems openly and honestly - not just here, but in general.