The global lockdown which led to a suspension of live sport and the closure of land-based casinos in mid-March, caused many players to move to online play, increasing the risk of a rise in problem gambling. 

While many countries have their own self-exclusion schemes, such as GamStop in the UK, players who self-exclude from games in their own country, are still able to play in markets outside their homeland.  

Daniel Dolejsi, social media and community manager at the casino betting guide, Casino Guru, believes a global scheme would be essential for player protection.  

He also believes gambling authorities in the likes of the UK, Sweden and Malta, would be interested in such a tool. 

Speaking to Gambling Insider, Dolejsi said: “A global self-exclusion tool would help to exclude players from all casinos in the world. 

“Casino Guru would love to help create it and it’s one of our big projects for the future.  

“We’ve seen many cases where players self-excluded themselves in the UK so they couldn’t play in any casino which has a licence there.  

"But they just start searching for other countries, and obviously most of those casinos won’t be as good as those who have a licence in the UK. What happens is then they start playing in a shady casino which has no licence at all, because they’re forced to do that as they can’t play in the UK, so look for other options.  

“Under one global self-exclusion scheme, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”