iGaming Business magazine iGB 111 July/Aug | Page 16

Tech & Innovation
To block or NOT to block,
THAT is the question
The relatively recent adoption of Gamban by a number of igaming operators has reignited
debate about gambling blocking tools. Joanne Christie reports
Given the flurry of press attention it has received recently and
the company’s prolific use of social media, one could be forgiven
for thinking Gamban had designed the first ever gambling
blocking tool.
It hasn’t, of course, both GamBlock and Betfilter have been
around for many years, but nevertheless along with attention
it does also seem to be gaining some traction among operators –
this year already it has signed up LeoVegas, Kindred and Virgin
Games. So what’s different about Gamban then? Unsurprisingly,
co-founder Jack Symons would argue his company’s product is
better, technically, than those already on the market.
Unquestionably, at £9.99 (€11.40) per device per year it’s far
cheaper than its competitors – GamBlock, for example, charges
a whopping US$155.95 (€133.60) for one PC for one year while
Betfilter charges $69.99. It’s also thus far the only one of the
gambling blocking tools to block ‘skins gambling’, despite the
fact regulators the world over seem unclear if this actually
constitutes gambling or not.
A recent addition to the software is a new block page –
the page customers with Gamban are taken to if they try to
access gambling sites – that displays a world map, allowing users
to select their region and find help in their area. But while the fact
it is designed to be impossible to uninstall and boasts the ability
to block tens of thousands of gambling sites may have attracted
praise from rather predictable anti-gambling corners such as
The Guardian, not everyone is convinced.
Mark Knighton, the founder of Obsidian Consulting and
someone who has been involved in many responsible gaming
initiatives including Svenska Spel’s early efforts to market
Playscan, is sceptical. “My point of view on this is they are
sort of gates, that is all they are. All these technologies that
are around – GamBlock, Betfilter, Gamban – they have flaws
within them so they will slow down addicts but they will
not stop them.
“If you’re an addict you just reset your iPhone or laptop to its
factory settings and clear it off and then start gambling again.
Or go to an internet cafe and start gambling. It is an initial
slowdown but it is not a proper solution.”
While true, the latter is quite a “drastic measure”, says Symons.
“If someone restores their device to factory settings they would be
uninstalling everything, including Gamban,” he points out.
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iGamingBusiness | Issue 111 | July/August 2018