18+ only
Responsible gaming
Betting is entertainment, not income. Stake only what you can comfortably lose, set your own limits before you start, and step away if it stops being fun. If gambling is affecting your life, contact a licensed support service in your country.
If it has stopped being entertainment, stop.
We deliberately do not print a helpline number here. Support services differ by country, they change, and a number published on a website and never checked again is worse than no number at all. Search for the licensed gambling support service in your own country, or ask your doctor, who can refer you. If you are in immediate distress, contact your local emergency service.
If you contact this desk and ask for help closing an account or self-excluding, you get help doing it. There is no retention script and no attempt to change your mind.
The tools operators must give you
Deposit limits
Cap what can enter the account over a day, a week or a month. Note the asymmetry that makes them work: tightening a limit takes effect immediately, while loosening one usually carries a cooling-off delay. Set one on the day you open the account, before there is any reason to.
Loss limits
A ceiling on net losses across a period, which stops a bad run before it compounds. This is the tool that most directly interrupts chasing, because it removes the option rather than relying on you to decline it.
Session and time limits
A cap on how long a single session runs. Time distortion is one of the better-documented features of continuous play, and a hard stop is more reliable than an intention to stop.
Reality checks
A periodic interruption showing how long you have been playing and where you stand. Set the interval short enough to be slightly annoying. Annoying is the mechanism.
Self-exclusion
Locks the account for a fixed period or permanently. A properly run operator will not let you reverse it on impulse, and that refusal is the feature you are paying for.
Signs worth taking seriously
- Increasing your stake to recover a loss. This is the specific behaviour that turns a manageable loss into an unmanageable one, and it never feels reckless at the time.
- Betting with money set aside for something else — rent, bills, food, someone else's money.
- Hiding how much you have staked, or lying about it when asked directly.
- Betting to change how you feel rather than because you want to watch the cricket.
- Finding that the amount needed to feel anything keeps going up.
- Trying to stop and not managing it, more than once.
18+ only. Gambling laws differ by territory — it is your responsibility to check that betting is legal where you live before you register anywhere.