Do online poker rooms have an ethical responsibility to actively curb players with risky behavior?

[dariana Orasma]

I've been there. I'm not talking about losing your house, but I'm talking about that feeling of waking up at 3 a.m. to pee, checking your phone, opening the App "just to see what tables are available," and suddenly it's 7 a.m. and you've lost three deposits you hadn't planned on making. The poker rooms bombard you with "Play Responsibly" messages, but at the same time, they give you bonuses, send you notifications, and make the depositing process faster than ordering a taxi. It's hypocritical. They sell you the idea that you're a mental athlete while their algorithm is designed to squeeze every last drop out of you at the exact moment they know you're emotionally vulnerable. In the end, the responsibility is yours, of course, but it's like putting an open bar of whiskey outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saying, "Well, they have to control themselves."

 

[Grzegorz00pl]

I've been there. I'm not talking about losing your house, but I'm talking about that feeling of waking up at 3 a.m. to pee, checking your phone, opening the app "just to see what tables are available," and suddenly it's 7 a.m. and you've lost three deposits you hadn't planned on making. The poker rooms bombard you with "Play Responsibly" messages, but at the same time, they give you bonuses, send you notifications, and make the depositing process faster than ordering a taxi. It's hypocritical. They sell you the idea that you're a mental athlete while their algorithm is designed to squeeze every last drop out of you at the exact moment they know you're emotionally vulnerable. In the end, the responsibility is yours, of course, but it's like putting an open bar of whiskey outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saying, "Well, they have to control themselves."

I've personally received emails from GG Poker several times regarding my increased activity. From my experience, I've concluded that self-control is essential.

 

[Poker Orifice]

I've been there. I'm not talking about losing your house, but I'm talking about that feeling of waking up at 3 a.m. to pee, checking your phone, opening the app "just to see what tables are available," and suddenly it's 7 a.m. and you've lost three deposits you hadn't planned on making. The poker rooms bombard you with "Play Responsibly" messages, but at the same time, they give you bonuses, send you notifications, and make the depositing process faster than ordering a taxi. It's hypocritical. They sell you the idea that you're a mental athlete while their algorithm is designed to squeeze every last drop out of you at the exact moment they know you're emotionally vulnerable. In the end, the responsibility is yours, of course, but it's like putting an open bar of whiskey outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and saying, "Well, they have to control themselves."

Does the bar make you stop at 2 drinks? Does the bakery limit you to one dozen doughnuts per week?

What I'm getting at is... TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!!! To suggest they make it to easy to deposit????? Tell that to USA players (& others) who have very limited options and only DREAM they could deposit easily. And then suggesting that their ease of this process is being hypocritical... I can only imagine what you'd be saying if you wanted to play but instead they told you "Sorry. It's a 7-day wait period for every deposit." Who knows, maybe you'd like this? BUT what about all the other players who just want to play poker and who actually appreciate fast deposit processes?

Personally I appreciate the fact that there are poker rooms I can easily play at. AND some that still offer up deposit bonuses!! (can you tell me which ones are currently doing this because I don't like to pass up on free money and these days finding deposit bonuses is actually very difficult). Years ago I had accounts on over 25 different poker sites. All were active. It was fantastic! I wish it was more like that today. I am still very grateful for the sites I can play on today and to know it only takes a minute or two til' I have a table open on my screen is a good feeling.

Nobody makes me play poker.

If you have a gambling problem only you can do something about it. You can't blame the sites and expect them to babysit you. If you can't handle it, don't play! Only YOU can do something about it.

 

[EarnDAStack]

The lack of accountability in your post is incredible to me.

If you're getting up to pee at 3am and then playing poker for 4 hours I'm going to go right ahead and say you have an addiction, whether or not a poker site is running promotions is irrelevant, if anything I prefer they give me free stuff and I take the responsibility to play at stakes I'm profitable at.

Also should losing 3 stacks really upset you that much if you're taking a proper approach to poker? Don't get me wrong I hate losing money too but dropping 3 stacks in a 4 hour session is a standard day at the office even for really profitable players. Anything can happen over the course of a few thousand hands.

But I think you're mentality suggests you have an addiction to gambling and you're trying to lay the responsibility onto the site who provides thousands of other players with enjoyable entertainment that they can either profit from or lose money they can afford to lose.

There's always the delete account or limits option so really in my opinion the sites provide you with everything they can for you from on their side, the rest is up to the decisions you make.

 

[fundiver199]

Also should losing 3 stacks really upset you that much if you're taking a proper approach to poker? Don't get me wrong I hate losing money too but dropping 3 stacks in a 4 hour session is a standard day at the office even for really profitable players. Anything can happen over the course of a few thousand hands.

Sure but OP did not mean losing 3 buyins in a cash game. She meant making 3 deposits during that 3-4 hour session, which is definitely not a normal or healthy way to play poker. Although to be fair, she did not say, how large these deposits were. If it was 3 x $10, then its mostly a sign, she dont plan ahead and make for instance a single weekly or monthly deposit rather than several small deposits.

Also to be honest I am not 100% sure, this story is true. OP seem to be on her "get to 100 posts and platinum status as fast as possible" run, so I take everything, she post, with a grain of salt. She is constantly starting new threads asking this and that with long headlines, but she never interact with anyone replying in the threads, she start.