Responsible gambling

This site does not take bets, hold money, or send anyone to a bookmaker. There is nothing here to lose money on. That makes this page short on obligations and long on the only thing worth saying: if betting has stopped being entertainment, the help below is free, confidential and has nothing to sell you.

The tools every licensed operator must give you

Any operator with a Great Britain licence is required to offer all of these, and required to apply them once you ask. They live in your account settings, not behind a support ticket.

• Deposit limits — a cap per day, week or month. Lowering one takes effect immediately; raising it has to wait, deliberately.
• Loss and stake limits — a ceiling on what can go in rather than on what goes out.
• Reality checks — a message on screen every so often telling you how long you have been playing and what the session has cost.
• Time-out — shut the account for a day, a week, a month or six weeks. Nothing gets through in that window.
• Self-exclusion — a minimum of six months, and the operator must also take you off its marketing lists and close the account properly.

GAMSTOP, for all of them at once

GAMSTOP excludes you from every online operator licensed in Great Britain from a single form, for six months, one year or five years. It cannot be lifted early, which is the entire point of it. Registration is free and takes a few minutes.

Signs worth taking seriously

• Betting more than you planned to, more often than you planned to.
• Chasing a loss, on the reasoning that the money is only lost if you stop.
• Hiding what you have staked from someone who would be entitled to know.
• Borrowing, selling or moving money to keep betting.
• Feeling relief at a bet rather than interest in the event.
• Sleeping badly, or thinking about a market at times you would rather not be.

None of these is a diagnosis and none is a moral failing. They are the pattern that the organisations below deal with all day and know how to interrupt.

Where to get help

• BeGambleAware — Free, confidential advice and support.
• National Gambling Helpline — 0808 8020 133, free, 24 hours a day.
• GAMSTOP — Exclude yourself from all GB licensed sites.
• Gambling Commission — Check whether an operator is licensed.
• Gordon Moody — Residential and online treatment.
• GamCare — treatment, group support and a live chat service.
• Gamblers Anonymous — peer meetings across the UK, in person and online.
• NHS gambling clinics — referral through a GP or self-referral, depending on the nation and the clinic.

If it is someone else

Gambling harm reaches the people around it, and every service above will talk to a partner, parent or friend rather than only to the person betting. GamFam and Gambling with Lives exist specifically for families. You do not need the other person's permission to ask for advice.

Under 18

It is illegal for anyone under 18 to gamble on a licensed product in Great Britain. This site offers no gambling at all, and its email list carries an explicit 18-or-over declaration which we keep as the record of it. If you are under 18 and something here interests you, the darts maths is all real and none of it needs a bookmaker.