GamCare Gives Poker Stars High Approval Rating

GamCare, a British responsible gambling organization has acknowledged the Gibraltar-based online poker room, Poker Stars for displaying "...high standards in player protection and social responsibility and recognizes the need to assist their customers to play responsibly."

GamCare provides learning tools, assistance and advice for gambling operators to address the impact and issues related to problem gambling. The organization accomplishes this goal by maintaining the following goals;

1. Improving the understanding of the impact of social gambling
2. Promoting a responsible approach to gambling
3. Address the needs of those adversely affected by a gambling dependency

PokerStars announced this week that several changes have been made to their online poker platform in order to meet the GamCare Code of Practice for Remote Gambling standards. These system updates include an age verification system and a self-exclusion feature for players who feel they have, or may be developing, a gambling problem. The self-exclusion feature allows players to suspend their real-money gambling at the poker room for anywhere from 24 hours to 180 days. Poker Stars also made improvements to their deposit-limit feature, which already implements limitations, but now, should a player desire to, they may set their own limits lower than what the site currently provides.

Other additions to the Poker Stars platform include responsible gambling information, resources, advice and support; social responsibility and problem gambling training for all customer support reps; consultation with GamCare on all new product/technology developments; and support of GamCare's efforts to address the impact of social gambling.

GamCare provides advice and counseling to problem gamblers through their National Helpline, e-mail and counseling service, as well as group counseling and Netline, an Internet hotline for residents of the UK.