Responsible Gambling

Be honest with yourself if you notice any of these:

• Betting more than you planned, or chasing losses to win money back.
• Spending money meant for bills, rent or food.
• Borrowing money or selling things to fund betting.
• Hiding how much you bet from people close to you.
• Feeling anxious, low or irritable when you are not betting.
• Betting to cope with stress rather than for fun.

If any of this sounds familiar, the support below is free and confidential.

Most operators, including the ones on this site, offer some voluntary tools inside your account. These are set by each site and are not linked to any central scheme:

• Deposit limits. Cap how much you can pay in per day, week or month.
• Time and session limits. Limit how long you spend in the app.
• Cooling-off periods. Take a short break where you cannot bet.
• Account self-exclusion. Shut your account for a set period. On an offshore site this only covers that one site, not others.

These are worth setting early, before a session gets out of hand. But because they are voluntary and site-by-site, they are weaker than the UK schemes below, and they only work on the site that offers them.

GAMSTOP is the UK’s free self-exclusion scheme. When you register, it blocks you from every gambling operator licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, across all their sites, from one sign-up.

The important point for this site: GAMSTOP only covers UK-licensed operators. The apps we review are licensed offshore, so they are not part of GAMSTOP and an active GAMSTOP registration will not stop you opening an account with them. If you have self-excluded through GAMSTOP because gambling was causing you harm, registering on an offshore site works against the exact protection you put in place. That carries real personal risk, and the safer step is to strengthen your blocking rather than look for a way around it.

If you want a barrier that also covers offshore apps, two things work regardless of where a site is licensed:

• Gamban. Paid software you install on your phone, tablet and computer. It blocks gambling sites and apps at the device level, including offshore ones, so it reaches sites GAMSTOP cannot. GambleAware has rated it highly effective on the devices it is installed on. Betfilter and GamBlock are similar tools.
• Bank gambling blocks. Most major UK banks let you switch on a gambling block in their mobile app. It stops card payments to gambling sites, including offshore ones, and often adds a delay before it can be turned off.

Used together, a device blocker and a bank block give you a layer of protection that does not depend on any operator honouring an exclusion list.

You do not have to sort this out alone. All of the following are free.

• National Gambling Helpline — 0808 8020 133. Run by GamCare, open 24 hours a day, every day, by phone or live chat. Free and confidential support and referral to treatment across England, Scotland and Wales.
• GamCare — gamcare.org.uk. Information, advice, one-to-one support and free treatment for anyone affected by gambling harm.
• BeGambleAware — begambleaware.org. Guidance, a self-assessment, and a route into support in your area.
• Gamblers Anonymous — gamblersanonymous.org.uk. Local and online peer support groups.
• GAMSTOP — gamstop.co.uk. Free self-exclusion from all UK-licensed gambling sites.
• Gamban — gamban.com. Device-level blocking software that also covers offshore sites.

Support is also there for family and friends affected by someone else’s gambling, through the same helpline.

Gambling is strictly for adults aged 18 and over. If you share devices with anyone under 18, use device parental controls and a blocker like Gamban to keep gambling apps and sites out of their reach. Never let a minor bet through your account.

Set your limits before you start, keep betting to money you can afford to lose, and treat any session as entertainment with a cost, not an investment. If it stops feeling that way, the helpline above is open right now.

18+. Gambling involves risk. When the fun stops, stop.