Safer gambling

Two numbers worth setting before you play

Decide what the session may cost before it starts, and decide how long it may last. Both can be enforced by the site rather than by willpower: that is what the tools below are for, and setting them when nothing is going wrong is the point — they are easier to set than to need.

What every GB-licensed site has to offer you

• Deposit limits — daily, weekly or monthly. Lowering one takes effect at once; raising one is deliberately slow.
• Time-out — a short break, from a day to a few weeks, after which the account reopens by itself.
• Self-exclusion — a long block, a minimum of six months at a licensed site, which the operator cannot lift early however politely you ask.
• Reality checks — a message on screen that says how long you have been playing, at an interval you choose.
• Account closure — available at any time, with the balance paid out.

These are licence conditions rather than courtesies, so a site that makes any of them hard to find is the problem, not your request. They live in the account settings, usually under a heading like responsible gambling, safer gambling or limits.

GAMSTOP: one registration, every licensed site

GAMSTOP is the national self-exclusion scheme for online gambling in Great Britain. You register once, choose six months, one year or five years, and every operator holding a GB remote licence has to block your accounts for that period. No individual operator can let you back in early, and the registration covers sites you have never visited as well as the ones you have. It is the strongest control a player holds, and it costs nothing.

Signs it has stopped being a game

• Staking more than was planned, or playing longer than was planned, as the normal shape of a session rather than the exception.
• Chasing a loss — raising stakes to get back to level.
• Gambling with money meant for something else, or with borrowed money.
• Keeping it from people close to you, or arguing about it.
• Gambling to change how you feel rather than for the game itself.
• Relief when you are losing, because at least it is still going on.

One of these is worth noticing. Several together are worth acting on today, and the fastest useful action is a time-out on the account plus one phone call.

Free, independent help

• National Gambling Helpline — 0808 8020 133. Free, confidential, open around the clock, for players and for the people around them.
• GamCare — free advice and treatment, by phone and online, independent of any operator.
• BeGambleAware — plain explanations of the tools, the odds and where to go next.
• GAMSTOP — the self-exclusion scheme itself.

If you are worried about someone else

The helpline and GamCare are for affected family and friends as well as players: you do not need the other person's permission to call and ask what to do. Practical steps that do not require their agreement include not covering the losses, keeping your own accounts separate, and asking about blocking software and bank gambling blocks.

Money controls outside the casino

Most British banks can block gambling transactions on a card from the banking app, and the block typically takes a cooling-off period to reverse. Blocking software on a phone or computer works alongside GAMSTOP rather than instead of it. Used together, the three cover the three ways back in: the account, the payment and the browser.

What this site does, and what it will not do

We rate licensed operators and read their terms; we hold no player accounts and we do not gamble on the sites we cover. We do not list sites that cannot legally accept a player in Great Britain, and we do not explain how to get around a self-exclusion. If you are registered with GAMSTOP and a site still takes your deposit, that is a licence matter — the UK Gambling Commission public register is the right place for it.