Thank you. The spammers do not bother going to most self-moderated threads because they are worried about having their posts deleted as soon as they come across as low quality or spam. I think that is the best way forward but dangling the merits carrot could have a profound effect too. It is good to see you and many others support the OP in his application.
Let's also be honest - 1 merit source is far from enough to drastically improve the situation on the gambling boards.
Still, it would be a good small step forward for the betterment of the most active area of the forum.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, So let's take one step before another, You've indeed done a great job on your end in creating self-moderated threads and I agree with your point, but on the other hand, I also agree with the idea of cryptofrka as I do hope this will likely bring more improvement to this board as regards to improving post quality and will a kind of discourage spamming in this board a bit.
So I pledge my full support.