Online Gambling Debts

[Sark79]

I am sure most of you have seen the news today and the story of the guy using his parents credit cards to run up massive gambling debts.

I have a lot of sympathy for the guy.

Whenever I speak to someone about online gambling that doesn't actually gamble themselves, they say the usual  " Watch out you will run up debts, etc, etc, etc, ". 

From my understanding you can only deposit the amount up to what is on the card concerned.  Surely it is impossible to be able to deposit more than what is on the card.   Am I correct here? .  It is impossible to borrow large amounts of money from a regular bank card for the purpose to deposit onto an online site. I always thought pokersites had measures in place to prevent too large a deposit being placed.

[M3boy]

Yes, but nothing stopping you getting hold of say 20 credit cards and maxing them out.

Credit Card companies need to take some blame here - its soooooooooooo easy to obtain credit cards (with a £5000 limit)

[Pab]

The measures in place to control large deposits are only there originally. When you first start pokerstars, ure daily deposit limit is $600 with a weekly limit fo around $1500 i think. This was no good for the stake i play, i needed to have more money in my account to begin with. I emailed stars support asking if i could have my limits increased  not giving any figures. I recieved a response around 10 mins later saying no problem my new deopist limits were:

daily - $10k
weekly - $20k
Monthly - $50k

Not much restricition there

[doubleup]

The measures in place to control large deposits are only there originally. When you first start pokerstars, ure daily deposit limit is $600 with a weekly limit fo around $1500 i think. This was no good for the stake i play, i needed to have more money in my account to begin with. I emailed stars support asking if i could have my limits increased  not giving any figures. I recieved a response around 10 mins later saying no problem my new deopist limits were:

daily - $10k
weekly - $20k
Monthly - $50k

Not much restricition there

They gave you those limits on a credit card?  Surely you used a debit card?

Everyone I know who has increased cc limits has had to fill in extra paperwork on stars

[Sark79]

ok, good point.   

I play at the scum limits.  We look up at the big players like H@££INGGOL and think to ourselves  " One day, I will be a contender".  .    That is more like dream land anyway the regularity at which he wins .

[Pab]

i use neteller, sorry, dont use credit cards, even when i was a student and broke id rather go without than run up credit card debt

[bolt pp]

these people should stop being such degenerate fish and start taking responsibility for there own actions instead of blaming every financial institution availible.

[M3boy]

these people should stop being such degenerate fish and start taking responsibility for there own actions instead of blaming every financial institution availible.

I Agree, but also disagree - for these reasons :

Yes it is upto the individual to be responsible when it comes to credit cards, BUT credit card companies should NOT make it so easy. You can obtain a credit card, and as long as you keep up the minimum payments, other credit card companies are more than happy to give you "another" card irrespective of how much credit you already have on other cards!

The responsibility of credit card companies should work the same way as banks lending mortgages, in which your current borrowings are taken into account as you can only borrow say 3x Income.

This is where credit card companies , in my opinion, fail. They are not interested in the fact that you already have say 5 credit cards with £5k on each of them, they are only concerned that you are making the "minimum" payments ontime. Now, would a credit card company give you a credit card with say a £100k limit?? Of course not!! But they dont mind giving you a credit card of say £5k even though you may already have £95k on other cards.

This is what I mean by Credit Card companies need to take some responsibility over their lending and subsequently people getting into Debt.

[M3boy]

Yet another example of where the "lenders" should take more responsibility is this :

You have maxed out your 5 credit cards to the tune of say £15k and are struggling to meet the monthly payments. You then apply for an unsecured loan to "consolidate" all your debts leaving you with a lower monthly payment - makes sense yes?  NO!!!!

Because what that lender has effectively done is let you DOUBLE the credit available to you. By this I mean even if you pay off those credit cards with the £15k, you then have 5 credit cards with £15k clear credit!!

This HAS to be wrong, and the lenders should take responsibility to ensure that those credit cards are closed, or at least, the combined limits of the cards are decreased dramatically. Will they ever do this?? OF COURSE NOT!! Why?? COS THEY DONT CARE!! All they care about is being able to charge you extortionate rates of interest.

[thetank]

That and once the credit card balances are cleared, some of them automatically increase the amount of credit available to you.

The financial industry needs a hellava lot more regulating.

[M3boy]

Indeed they do Tank, indeed they do!

[Josh]

these people should stop being such degenerate fish and start taking responsibility for there own actions instead of blaming every financial institution availible.

This is where credit card companies , in my opinion, fail. They are not interested in the fact that you already have say 5 credit cards with £5k on each of them, they are only concerned that you are making the "minimum" payments ontime. Now, would a credit card company give you a credit card with say a £100k limit?? Of course not!! But they dont mind giving you a credit card of say £5k even though you may already have £95k on other cards.

This is what I mean by Credit Card companies need to take some responsibility over their lending and subsequently people getting into Debt.

It's in their interest for you to just pay off minimum amount.
They make much more interest on your account that way.

[TenJack (10JQKA)]

In my view it's all about personal responsibility.  Just because you have a credit card with a £5k limit doesn't mean that you have to run up £5k of debt.

As an aside to Sark's original post, I get the impression that the guy who lost £150k in an hour (based on this morning's Glasgow Herald, front page) was playing online casino games rather than poker.  And supposedly he was up £90k after the first half-hour!!

[Sark79]

Yep, that's the story TenJack.  I didn't actually get to read the story unfortunately. I just saw it on the news.  I may go onto the site later and read it.

I do feel abit sorry for the guy. I don't know about others, but if I dabble on Party at the blackjack tables it is easy for me to get carried away.  I start off at the $1 chips and before I know it, I have switched to the $10 or $20 chips.  Gambling is a lot of fun unfortunately.  That's why I am only a poker player. No other types of gambling.  At least when I lose, I can put it down to bad play luck.

[M3boy]

In my view it's all about personal responsibility.  Just because you have a credit card with a £5k limit doesn't mean that you have to run up £5k of debt.

As an aside to Sark's original post, I get the impression that the guy who lost £150k in an hour (based on this morning's Glasgow Herald, front page) was playing online casino games rather than poker.  And supposedly he was up £90k after the first half-hour!!

Why do you think mortgage companies dont treat you like credit card companies do???

SIMPLE - cos they wouldnt make money from you

CREDIT CARD companies HAVE to take some responsibility - they cant have their cake and eat it, they KNOW people will NEVER be able to pay them back, but with the interest rates they charge, they just dont care, pure and simple