Responsible Gambling Practices Guide

Responsible gambling is a common phrase that you’ll see whenever you play online casino games or bet on sports. Playing responsibly is the responsibility of everyone involved, including you as the player and the casino or bookmaker taking your bets.

There’s a lot of talk about the steps you can take as a player to gamble responsibly, but you may not be aware of all of the steps that online casinos and bookmakers also take to protect you.

So we’ve created this guide to responsible gambling so you can better understand the initiatives from the other side, how they can help you, and which partners you’re likely to see casinos work with.

What is Responsible Gambling?

Responsible gambling is a term that describes placing bets that you can afford, understanding that you can lose as well as win, and remembering that it is a recreational activity rather than a way to earn a living.

Everyone who is party to a bet has a duty to encourage and make responsible bets, including players and brands. That’s why you’ll find several initiatives, tools, and techniques designed to help your wagering to be a safe and positive experience.

As a player, you should only gamble with funds that you can afford to lose. For this reason, it is usually recommended that you set aside a separate pot of cash each week or month and only use that for betting. Once you run out, you’ll need to wait until the next period before you can start placing wagers again.

Similarly, it’s prudent to bet smaller amounts so you don’t lose your entire bankroll in a single wager. Alongside this, it’s never a good idea to place bets while you’re angry or sad or to let emotions like frustration drive you to chase losses. Instead, it’s better to call it a day and have another go when you’re feeling more refreshed.

The most popular Responsible Gambling practices

Casinos and sports betting brands also have best practice to follow to help everyone have a positive experience while gambling. Below, you’ll find some of the most common initiatives that you’ll come across.

Player Protection

Most online casinos and sports betting brands have entire teams dedicated to player protection that are available to help you if you want to know how best to gamble responsibly or if you want to get help with your gambling.

In addition to player protection teams, you’ll find other player protection tools that are designed to keep you safe, including:

• Deposit Limits - A cap on the amount that you can pay into your betting account every day, week, or month so that you can limit how much you spend
• Loss Limits - We know that it’s never a good idea to chase losses while you’re gambling, and loss limits give you a helping hand in managing this by stopping you from placing any more bets once you reach a pre-determined maximum net loss over a day, week, or month
• Wagering Limits - In addition to deposit limits which control how much you can add to your account, wagering limits let you restrict how much of your bankroll you can bet on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This is also a good way to enforce your bankroll management as a daily wagering limit would help prevent you from accidentally going over your planned spending for each day.
• Reality Checks - The reality check tool allows you to set reminders to pop up on your screen at an interval of your choosing. This alert allows you to take a second to think about how long you’ve been playing for and needs to be dismissed before you can keep playing.
• Session Limits - If you want a stricter tool to control how long you spend gambling, session limits go further than reality checks by blocking you from placing any more bets once you’ve reacted a pre-set amount of time.
• Time Out - If you decide you need to take a short break from betting, a time out can restrict your account for a duration of your choosing, often between a day and several weeks. You will be unable to place any wagers until the time out has expired.
• Self Exclusion - Self exclusion is similar to a time out but is for a much longer period of time. For example, BetMGM’s self-exclusion tool can put a pause on your account for any period between six months and five years. Once the self exclusion is in place, you will not be able to cancel it.
• GAMSTOP - Here in the UK, you can also register with GAMSTOP. This is a national self-exclusion service that can stop you from opening accounts and gambling with any other casino or betting brand. Like a traditional self exclusion, GAMSTOP cannot be cancelled once it has been put in place.

You can use any of these player protection tools at any time and in any combination to help you gamble responsibly.

Information and Education About Gambling

In addition to tools to help you play responsibility, another key initiative is to provide information to educate players about the importance of responsible gambling and how to do it.

This includes tips on how best to keep your betting affordable, and a self-assessment checklist that contains a series of questions to help you better understand whether your own gambling is showing signs of being problematic.

Amongst these educational resources, you’ll also find links to other organisations that also have educational and informational resources about gambling.

Responsible Advertising

You will have likely noticed a huge rise in the amount of gambling advertising in the last few years. While there is nothing wrong with advertising a casino or sports betting service in itself, it should be done in a responsible way.

In the UK, gambling companies must comply with the Advertising Standards Authority’s Advertising Codes which dictates that ads for betting services don’t:

• Suggest gambling can be a solution to financial issues
• Make gambling appear to make you be more attractive
• Portray or encourage behaviour that is irresponsible or that could lead to harm
• Feature people under 25

There is also a separate Code for Socially Responsible Advertising created by the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling that contains 10 pages and 69 paragraphs of rules that its members have agreed to follow. The code is more specific to different forms of advertising and includes points like:

• Always including 18+ messaging
• Referring to GambleAware in advertising
• Removing gambling sponsorship logos from sports merchandise that is not aimed at adults

Cooperation with Help Organisations

There are many organisations that can offer help to players to gamble responsibly and to address their problems if they struggle to do this. Most casinos and sports betting brands collaborate and cooperate with these third parties to help make gambling safer for everyone. Some of the most common collaborations include:

• GAMSTOP - GAMSTOP is a nationwide self-exclusion network that prevents you from joining or betting at any online gambling site in Great Britain for a period you define.
• GamCare - GamCare is a charity that’s part of the National Gambling Support Network that offers help and support to anyone who is having trouble gambling responsibly. It has a National Gambling Helpline, an online forum and chatroom, and a series of other services that you can use.
• Gambling Therapy - An international online support service for people who have struggled with gambling in a responsible way.
• BeGambleAware - An organisation that provides information on how to gamble responsibly and directs people to the support they may need.
• BetBlocker - A tool for preventing gambling sites from being accessed from your electronic devices.
• Gambling Commission - The Gambling Commission is the national regulator for all forms of gambling in Great Britain. It issues licenses to online casinos and betting sites and creates the rules that they must follow to keep players safe.