Quote:
Originally Posted by fabadam
I am another Dutch player in a comparable situation (though I play WAY lower volume, more of serious recreational player).
I have moved (from PokerStars) to GG Poker.
They also have these reminders but in a way less obstructive way. There's one at login, and then one every hour to update you on your current wins/losses (which is way wrong because they count any money on tables/in play as lost).
So they handle this a lot better.
It looks like sites need to do something like to comply to Dutch rules.
If iPoker doesn't really respond to your complaints how their actions are hurting you, I personally would just leave. (Plus point for GG: I reported a smallish bug in their software and it was fixed in a matter of days. As an IT professional, I know that is quite an accomplishment.)
Cheers for shooting a message to describe what playing has been like for you since the introduction of the new gambling law. It's been a huge change within the Dutch poker community, but as we have basically zero pokerfora with reasonable traffic it's been difficult to find a place to even briefly discuss it.
The responsible gambling pop-ups seem to be handled a lot better by GG based on what you're saying. I can confirm that our government has obligated poker providers to confront players with them on a consistent basis. Even though I seriously doubt they have a significant effect on battling gambling addiction, I don't have a problem with them. It's really been the combination of the mass pop-ups with whatever caused me to automatically log-out of the client on the iPoker skins multiple sessions in a row that made the whole thing infuriating, as I basically couldn't log back in again until I got rid of whatever amount of pop-ups had stacked up during my session, which obviously cost me dearly.
I think you made the best decision by registering on GG. They're the only site out of the available three that for some reason are allowed to offer players an inhouse VIP program or promotions to reward players some rakeback. Our brilliant government has decided to label such programs as a way for poker providers to entice players to put in more volume and therefor has prohibited the two iPoker providers of offering any VIP program or promotions because they 'contribute to gambling addiction'. They're obviously not wrong that they entice players to put in more volume, but especially these inhouse VIP programs are often the primary reason a few of us can actually make a living off of playing poker as well. I think this perspective will only scare away winning regs from the few legal places that they can play at, who shouldn't be a concern to our government anyway, and will only increase the losses of losing recs that don't pay attention to things like rakeback.
I don't know why GG is still allowed to provide us with either an inhouse VIP program, promotions or both to crank out some rakeback. If I were you I'd keep close attention whether this will remain or not.
I meanwhile have in fact left Bet365 and Holland Casino Online, because of the issues I described having with them and because of the total absence of a VIP program to crank out some rakeback. I unfortunately don't have a viable legal place to play now, since I've studied sng's and spins over the past years and GG offers a **** spins format and doesn't offer sng's. I'll find my way around the block though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josem
I suggest you complain to your regulator about the stupid rules they are enforcing.
I could give this a go, but I highly doubt they're gonna take complaints seriously just after enforcing the new gambling law. Maybe for something down the line though, I'll keep your suggestion in mind.
Cheers, have a good one.