Gambling Struggle Publicly Shared: Compassion Over Criticism

Compassion not criticism: gambling struggle playing out in public!

Before anything else, this needs to be said clearly. Gambling addiction is a serious illness. It destroys finances, stability and relationships and it often drags on far longer than outsiders realise. Reading the public posts of Mateo Loncar, it is impossible not to feel genuine sympathy. By his own account, this is not a short episode or a one-off mistake. He describes a pattern of gambling behaviour stretching roughly from 2017 through 2025. Eight or nine years is a long time to be stuck in that cycle.

Everyone at Malta Media genuinely hopes he finds proper professional help and some peace. If his openness stops even one other player from falling into the same trap, that matters. What follows is written with that compassion in mind. It is not written to attack him as a person. It is written to look carefully at what he is now doing in public and where the line starts to blur.

His story, in his own words!

Over the last six months, Mateo Loncar has posted extensively on LinkedIn. The core narrative is consistent. He presents himself as a problem gambler who self-excluded in Germany but was still able to gamble on offshore or unlicensed sites. He describes repeated losses, repeated access failures and repeated attempts to get money back after the fact. He frames many of these situations as systemic failures by operators, payment providers, corporate service providers and regulators.

In several posts, he openly accepts that he gambled while excluded. The responsibility, in his telling, lies almost entirely with those who allowed him to deposit, register or continue playing. That is not an uncommon position for someone struggling with addiction. Externalising blame is often part of how people cope when they are overwhelmed by regret.

The Bet365 and data angle!

One recurring example he raises involves bet365. In his posts, he describes playing there from 2017 during the period before Germany introduced its current licensing framework. He later requested his personal data and betting history under GDPR. In doing so, he claims that the response included data from accounts other than the one he considered his main account.

By his own description, this implies the existence of multiple accounts. He presents this as evidence of poor data handling or compliance failures.

What he does not explain is why multiple accounts existed in the first place. Were earlier accounts closed. Were they restricted. Were they self-excluded. That context is missing, and without it, the story remains incomplete. That does not mean wrongdoing occurred. It does mean that what is presented as a compliance failure also points back to repeated patterns of play.

Payments, Revolut and moving the blame outward!

Another major focus of his posts is payment providers, particularly Revolut. Mateo describes situations where he was able to transfer significant sums to gambling sites using mainstream fintech services. He frames this as proof that payment providers failed in their duty of care.

Again, the emotional logic is understandable. When someone is in a destructive loop, every open door feels like a personal betrayal.

But responsibility in gambling is shared, not transferred. Payment’s infrastructure exists to process lawful transactions. It is not built to manage individual addiction histories. That distinction is lost in his writing.

From personal harm to legal pressure.

Where the tone changes is when personal suffering starts to move into structured pressure. We have previously written about correspondence connected to EM Group, where repeated refund demands were paired with escalating deadlines and threats of exposure. The court material referenced in our earlier reporting treated that conduct, in one specific dispute, as attempted extortion.

It is important to repeat this clearly. Malta Media did not name Mateo Loncar in that article. The article described conduct and legal findings without attaching a personal identity.

Mateo himself then publicly stated that he was the person described in the article. That disclosure was his decision, not ours. That distinction matters.

A different situation to calculated activism!

It is also important to say this plainly. This situation is very different from what we have written about others. Mateo Loncar does not present as someone running a calculated strategy for financial gain. He presents as someone in distress. Someone who has spent years gambling, losing and then desperately trying to undo the damage.

Reading his posts together, the pattern feels less like planning and more like panic. New deadlines. New complaints. New targets. Payment providers one day, corporate service providers the next, regulators after that. That does not excuse harmful conduct if it crosses legal lines. But it does change how it should be understood.

When compassion and scrutiny meet.

Here is the uncomfortable part. Feeling sorry for someone does not mean ignoring behaviour that affects others. Addiction explains actions. It does not automatically justify them.

When refund demands are paired with threats, deadlines and reputational pressure, the situation stops being purely personal. Other people and companies are dragged into it, sometimes years after the original gambling took place.

At that point, scrutiny becomes necessary, even if it is delivered gently.

Why this matters to Malta Media and why we write about this?

Publicly documenting addiction has value. It can warn others. It can expose regulatory gaps. It can encourage reform. But there is a fine line between sharing pain and using pain as leverage. That line matters for credibility, legality and fairness.

Malta Media’s view is simple. Mateo Loncar deserves compassion, support and help. He also deserves clear boundaries. Turning years of gambling loss into a rolling campaign against anyone who touched the transaction chain is not recovery. It is continuation by other means.

A private thought and a closing note

If Mateo reads this, this is not written to shame him. It is written in the hope that someone around him helps him step away from this pattern and toward genuine recovery. Gambling addiction ruins lives. We sincerely hope his does not remain defined by it.

FAQs

What is the main focus of the article?
The article focuses on Mateo Loncar’s public struggle with gambling addiction, highlighting compassion, accountability and regulatory gaps.

Who is Mateo Loncar?
Mateo Loncar is an individual who has publicly shared his experiences with long-term gambling addiction, spanning from 2017 to 2025.

Why is compassion emphasized in the article?
Compassion is emphasized because gambling addiction is a serious illness and understanding the personal struggle is important alongside scrutiny of harmful behavior.

What gambling platforms are mentioned in his story?
Bet365 is highlighted, along with references to offshore or unlicensed gambling sites and payment services like Revolut.

What legal concerns are raised in the article?
The article notes situations where refund demands escalated into threats or pressure, which, in one case, were treated as attempted extortion by courts.

Does the article blame Mateo Loncar for his actions?
The article acknowledges that addiction influences behavior and emphasizes shared responsibility while not excusing harmful or illegal conduct.

What role do payment providers play in the story?
Payment providers like Revolut are discussed as tools through which he accessed gambling, though the article clarifies that financial infrastructure cannot manage individual addiction.

Why is Malta Media covering this story?
Malta Media covers it to highlight the public documentation of gambling addiction, warn others, expose regulatory gaps and encourage responsible gambling practices.

How does the article differentiate addiction from calculated financial strategies?
The article explains that Mateo’s actions reflect distress and panic rather than deliberate financial gain or manipulation.

What is the takeaway for readers?
The article encourages compassion, awareness and professional help for those struggling with gambling while emphasizing accountability and boundaries to prevent harm to others.

Sources and referenced public posts:

Bet365 and GDPR data access issues: This post focuses on his personal experience with accessing his bet365 data under GDPR and raises questions about completeness of the    response. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_gdpr-dataprotection-consumerrights-activity- 7401944628406640640-Xq8e

Paysafe Group and unlicensed gambling payments: In this post, he claims that Paysafe-owned payment services are facilitating deposits for unlicensed gambling platforms and criticises their complaint handling. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_document-activity-7404815013401755648-N8k-

Revolut compliance failure with high-value deposits: He calls out what he describes as a compliance failure by Revolut allowing €5,000 payments to an illegal operator without KYC.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_fintech-compliance-aml-activity- 7403681165183971328-yphB

Skrill, Paysafe and Revolut enabling unlicensed gambling flows: A broader “European payments industry warning” post where he mentions Skrill, Paysafe and Revolut facilitating unlicensed offshore gambling deposits.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_fintech-compliance-aml-activity- 7402648775657148417-TsWb

Trust office and EM Group criticism: This post is about his view that a corporate service provider (EM Group) crossed the line and was too involved in gambling operations beyond administrative support.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_when-a-trust-office-crosses-the-line-activity- 7379068517347786752-0MTK

Operational characteristics of illegal gambling platforms: Here he discusses patterns he believes repeat across unlicensed platforms, including how IBANs are treated and self-exclusion processes operate. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_operational-characteristics-of-illegal-activity- 7399552225611526144-RmkJ

Personal story of gambling addiction and motivation: He shares his lived experience with gambling harm and explains his personal reasons for speaking out.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mateo-loncar-482933246_gamblingaddiction-addictionawareness- mentalhealthawareness-activity-7407785074022064128-fbOW