Betting On Horses While Self-Excluding: How Hard Is It? | General Sports

Do you enjoy betting on horses? Are you currently self-excluding? If the answer to both questions is “yes”, you’re likely interested in knowing if you can bet on horse racing while self-excluding. This may sound counterintuitive, but there are reasons you might wish to do this. We’ll explain the options in this post and discuss how hard it is to bet on the races. 

What Happens When You’re Self-Excluding?

Self-exclusion schemes exist to give you a break from online gambling. A time may come when you feel the urge to step away and restrict your betting habits. Maybe you’ve been betting too much money or you’ve realised you’re not having fun. Neither are good signs, so self-exclusion helps you avoid contact with betting operators to take as much time away as you need. 

In essence, you’re prohibited from joining, using or accessing any of the betting operators you’re excluded from. The UK’s self-exclusion scheme (GamStop) will ban all participants from using every online gambling operator in the country. If you want to bet on some horse races, this will raise a few concerns. 

Three Ways To Bet On Horses While Self-Excluding

We’ve got good news for horse racing betting fans; it is possible to bet while self-excluding. 

How hard is this to do? Well, it turns out it’s not that hard at all. Three different routes present themselves and both are equally as easy: 

• Find sites that don’t participate in self-exclusion schemes – Self-excluding doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to use every gambling site on the internet. It only means you’re blocked from the websites participating in these schemes. Choosing to use horse racing betting sites not on GamStop means you have a simple way around your self-exclusion.

Hundreds of these exist across the world and they let you bet as you normally would. They’re perfectly legal too; they aren’t part of GamStop because they’re not registered in the United Kingdom. International sites don’t have to be on the UK’s self-exclusion scheme, so all you have to do is sign up and start betting. 

• Go to your local betting shop – All self-exclusion schemes are strictly for online gambling. No scheme or program exists to stop you from entering local betting shops and wagering on the horses. If your self-exclusion is getting in the way of online betting, head to an in-person bookmaker and they’ll let you gamble without running any checks or your name being flagged up. 

• Visit the races directly – This won’t be an option for everyone, but if you live in a country where horse races are fairly common, you could attend them and bet while you’re there. The UK has loads of great races throughout the year and details of when they’re on and how to get tickets can be found on The Jockey Club website.

Again, as this is in-person betting with no connection to an online profile, you’ll have the freedom to wager whatever you like. It’s also a very fun way to enjoy a day out as most racing events include lots of fanfare and plenty of drinks! 

Betting While Self-Excluding – Is It Wise?
Just because you can bet on horses while self-excluding, that doesn’t mean you should. It’s not a wise decision for everyone and the best way to approach things is to consider why you want to start betting on some races. 

Are you doing it for fun? Maybe your friends are getting into horse racing and you want to follow the events with them. You’ve started a little club where you place small bets every weekend and the winner buys drinks. It’s completely harmless and your self-exclusion stops you from getting involved. As long as you can confidently say you’ll gamble responsibly, there’s no harm in exploring ways to bet while self-excluding. 

Conversely, if you wish to bet because you’ve got an itch or an urge to put money on some races, that’s not a positive sign. You self-excluded to take a break from gambling and having this urge proves you’re not ready to return. It could be an early sign of gambling addiction, in which case it’s best to serve out your self-exclusion and assess things when it’s over. Maybe you’ll be ready and healthy to bet after a few more months – or maybe you’ll realise this lifestyle isn’t for you. 

Closing Comments
As you can see, betting on horses while self-excluding is both possible and easy. Make sure you do it for the right reasons and always track your feelings and finances when gambling. If you get overly emotional or start betting too much money, step away and seek professional help. 

Thanks for reading this post – and we’ve got loads more sports articles to read if you’re eager to find information on different sporting events.