Responsible Gambling Guide
Responsible Gambling Guide
Remember that gambling should be for entertainment purposes only. If you can make money too then great but that should not be your main aim.
NEVER gamble with money that you can not afford to lose and more than that we suggest “Never gamble with more than you care about”.
Gambling can become an addiction very easily, and nobody is immune. There are a number of tools available (both publicly and also provided by the bookmakers themselves) which you can use to help minimise the chances of you developing a gambling problem.
It is everyones responsibility to do everything possible to keep gambling safe and fun. That responsibility includes you, the customer. You know better than anyone else how much you can afford to gamble and what is a reasonable length of time to spend doing it. Therefore self evaluation is incredibly important, and arguably the most important thing to consider doing. There are questions that you can ask yourself and (remeber to answer 100% honestly) the results can help to quickly identify if there is a problem.
Some of the most common questions that help with Self-Evaluation are:
How often do you gamble?
Do you sometimes gamble when you haven't planned to?
How do you feel when you lose?
Have you ever put off seeing family or friends to gamble instead?
Do you keep how much you have lost from family or friends, or have you lied?
Do you find yourself chasing losses?
Why do you gamble?
If your answers to any of these questions cause you concern than the first port of call should be this website: BeGambleAware.org
They offer free, confidential help and support to anyone who’s worried about their – or someone else’s – gambling. They have a helpline too: 0808 8020 133 which you can call 24/7 if you need to talk to someone immediately.
From there if you decide to keep gambling but in moderation then each and every bookmaker is entitled to offer their own responsible gambling kit. Some of the most common features that you will see available to you once you have registered an account are:
Deposit Limits
Setting a deposit limit with a gambling site means that you decide in advance the most that you can deposit in a given time period, and therefore by definition you are also capping the maximum amount which you can therefore lose. The limit is at the end of the day up to you as everyone will feel comfortable with different amounts and the timeframe is either per day, per week, or per month.
When you have deposited the pre set amount no further deposits will be accepted by that bookmaker into your account until you have finished the time frame for that limit.
How can I change the deposit limit?
If you ever want to change the limit, either higher or lower it is relatively easy to do. Limits can be lowered instantly more often than not but to raise a limit you will usually have to wait until the current time period your limit is set for has expired. So you will not be able to raise it straight away, which is fair enough because if you could it would entirely defeat the point of having a limit in the first place.
Playing Time Notifications
Some betting sites will automatically give you a reminder every hour (or any other predetermined time limit) just to act as a wake up call, to check if you really still want to play. As a rule these are automatically applied rather than being requested by each player. It is likely that you can customise how long between messages you can play for without being notified, but it is unlikely that you will be able to turn them off altogether.
Self Exclusion
At the far end of the spectrum you may decide that gambling is not a safe activity for you to take part in and the best course of action is to simply not do it at all, and actually make it impossible for you to do. Now this is partly possible because every UK licenced bookmaker is required by law to offer their customers the ability to self exclude which will close the account and you can request to be prevented from ever opening a new one.
Self excluding from your current bookmaker accounts is a great start to managing the problem but unfortunately it is not the sole solution if there is an underlying gambling problem because you can still go and join and entirely new bookmaker online who is not linked to the company where you self excluded, and of course you can still bet offline with cash on the high street.
Responsible Gambling Database
At legalbet.uk we take responsible gambling seriously and promote responsible gambling that can be done safely. We are not specialists in psychology, or debt management, or always 100% up to date on the latest IT tricks to block specific websites and Apps though. For that reason we provide the following list of experts that we recommend you go to for further information and advice.
BeGambleAware.org (or call 0808 8020 133) - As already mentioned they offer free, confidential, specialist advice for anyone who is worried about their own or someone elses gambling habits.
Gamblock.com - They claim to be the site which “Helps Gamblers avoid becoming desperate gamblers”. Whilst this resource is not free, they claim that the software “blocks gambling absolutely”
Gamblers Anonymous.org (or call 02073 843040) Gamblers Anonymous in the UK was formed in London on 10th July, 1964. Today the organisation spans the length and breadth of the country and you can go to the website and find the nearest location to you.
Gordonmoody.org.uk - Whether you need advice, counselling, online support or a structured residential treatment course, the team at Gordon Moody can help you decide what’s best for you to overcome problems created by gambling.
Stepchange.org - They offer free, flexible debt advice that is based on a comprehensive assessment of your situation. We'll then provide practical help and support for however long it’s needed.
