You decide whether gambling stays a paid form of entertainment, and a few habits make that decision easier to keep. This page sets out those habits, the independent help organisations linked from this site, and what this site can and cannot do for you.
Six help organisations appear on every page
Every page of this site, this one included, carries links to six independent gambling-help organisations:
- BeGambleAware
- Gamble Aware
- Gambling Therapy
- G GamCare Gambling Support: Starts Here
- GAM STOP
- NCPG
You will find them in the help links shown on this page, as on every other page. They are the only outbound links on the site that are not commercial. Unlike the operator links, they carry no sponsored marking. They are set to nofollow, and they open in a separate tab on each organisation's own website. This site receives nothing when you follow one.
Good habits start before the first bet
Decide the amount before you start. A limit set while you are calm is far easier to respect than one you invent mid-session, when wins and losses distort your judgement.
Treat that amount as already spent. If you think of it as the price of an evening's entertainment, you will not feel you have to win it back, and anything left over is a bonus rather than a target.
Never chase a loss. Each bet is independent of the last, so raising stakes to recover money only increases how much you can lose.
Keep gambling out of borrowed money. Credit and loans turn a lost stake into debt with interest. They also hide how much you are really spending.
Take breaks. Stepping away interrupts the rhythm of play and gives you a moment to check the time, your balance and your mood.
Involve someone else early. When gambling stops feeling like entertainment, telling a person you trust, or contacting one of the organisations above, works best before the problem grows.
Account controls live at the destination
You arrange spending caps, loss caps, reality checks, cooling-off periods and self-exclusion yourself, inside your own account at the operator you play with. This build has no account, no form and no server-side application, so nothing published here can switch one on, check one or enforce one. If you want to stop or slow down, set these controls at the destination and use the help links above.
Age and play are handled elsewhere
The eighteen-and-over restriction is repeated throughout this site, including on the front page. Nobody's age is verified here, and no gambling takes place here. Any check of that kind happens at the destination.
No advertising or behavioural profiling network is present in these pages. As a result, nothing on this site is targeted at a reader who has shown risky behaviour.