TWO FORMER gambling addicts turned their losses into profits by starting a technology business to help other affected people.
Jack Symons is the founder and CEO of Gamban, an application that blocks thousands of gambling and stock trading websites for the benefit of individuals struggling with gambling addiction.
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Symons and Matt Zarb-Cousin, his partner in GamBan, were owed tens of thousands of dollars in debt, according to a spokesman.
“Just before I turned 20, I really wanted to take my own life,” Zarb-Neef explained in a post for the Addictions Provider Alliance. “I do not think it was about the money.
“That was about where the addiction led me. Gambling has distracted me from my life for so long.”
Problem gamblers are the individuals who are most at risk when it comes to self-harm.
A 2017 study found that one in five gambling addicts attempted suicide, higher than any other addiction disorder.
Symons told The Sun that casual gamblers could be a family tragedy, work-related incident or adrenaline rush away from crossing the threshold to problem gambling.
“It peaked for me with one big win, something around $ 35,000 in one spin of a slot machine,” Symons told The Sun in an exclusive interview. “I think I was kind of both unhappy and equally happy on that night.”
The state of affairs
The United States is quite caught up in gambling – in Arizona’s first three months of legal digital gambling, Arizona’s residents bet $ 1.2 billion.
Content machines like Barstool Sports have made their mark by producing gambling content, while outdated media outlets are plastering matchmaking in on-screen graphics.
Meanwhile, new gambling businesses are popping up every day trying to gain a foothold in the $ 60 billion dollar industry.
The silent epidemic has an estimated two million Americans addicted to gambling, and millions of people abroad are struggling with the same problem.
Over the past seven years, Symons has refined GamBan, an application and web plugin that blocks tens of thousands of gambling and gambling adjacent sites for problem gamblers for a small fee.
The Gambian engine
GamBan uses proprietary technology to block gambling sites without being intrusive.
Available on all platforms, GamBan is intended to supplement other gambling addiction treatment options.
During his own struggles, Symons downgraded his phone to a Nokia slapstick – though effective, few will be able to sacrifice a smartphone, no matter how deep in debt their gambling addiction has led them.
“There’s a compromise between being able to have the technology I need and having that device free from the tyranny of constant temptation,” Symons said.
The application is made to intentionally remove difficult. On iOS, the restrictions to remove the application from the home screen will not be lifted.
crypto betting
Later in GamBan’s evolution, they reached a crossroads when it came to stock trading applications and gamified crypto platforms.
Studies have shown that most people regarded it as gambling, but the deciding factor was the company’s correspondence with a gambling addiction hotline.
Workers for GamCare, a hotline for gambling addiction, told the company that callers regret their commitments to gamified trading platforms and cryptocurrencies.
GamBan even blocks Robinhood, the general trading platform with almost no access barriers.
Inexperienced traders can get involved in complex transactions without fully understanding their mechanics. “Typical trading on these platforms does not look like a well-executed, responsible trade,” Symons said.
Symons and the GamBan team also found “many of the crypto platforms that allow you to gamble with crypto.”
They determined that it was “essentially on your gamble to gamble” and blocked access for GamBan users.
The Biden administration is tight-lipped about the federal government’s general stance on gambling and has mostly focused on closing illegal sports books. Legal or not, one thing is for sure:
“They say the house always wins and that’s 100% true,” Symons concluded.