Your account
Account controls: limits, breaks and stopping
These are the tools that change how an account behaves rather than how you behave. Some are set in the account area; others are set by asking. This page describes what each one is for and what to establish before choosing between them.
The controls, and what each one is for
Where the account area offers a control directly, setting it there is immediate and needs no conversation. Where it does not, the same thing can be requested by email. The list below describes what each control is generally for; what exactly it does on your account is a question for the team, and worth asking before you rely on it.
- Deposit limit
- A ceiling on how much can be added to the account within a period — commonly a day, a week or a month. It is the most useful control for most people because it acts before money is in play rather than after.
- Stake or loss limit
- Where offered, a ceiling on what can be staked or lost within a period. It works alongside a deposit limit rather than replacing it.
- Session reminder
- A prompt that appears after a chosen amount of time, showing how long a session has been running. It changes nothing about the account; it exists to interrupt the loss of time.
- Time-out
- A short break, usually chosen from a set of fixed lengths. The account is closed to play for the period and reopens when it ends.
- Self-exclusion
- A longer break, meant as a firm decision rather than a pause. It is the right choice when the aim is to stop for a substantial period, and it is worth confirming its exact length and terms before it is applied.
- Account closure
- Closing the account entirely. Where the reason for closing is gambling harm rather than housekeeping, self-exclusion is usually the more suitable option, because closure and exclusion are different mechanisms.
How to set one
Look in the account area first
Responsible-play or account-settings sections usually hold the limits, the reminder and the shorter breaks. Anything you can set there takes effect without a conversation.
Otherwise, ask the team
Reach the team from inside your account — or, if you cannot sign in, through the support channel on the official casino site — and name the control you want, the period you want it to run for, and the date you want it to start.
Be specific rather than general
“Please set a deposit limit of a fixed amount per week” can be actioned. “I need to cut down” needs a reply asking what you meant, which costs you a day.
Keep the confirmation
Keep the reply that confirms the control is in place, with its dates. If you ever need to point at what was agreed, that message is the record.
Before you choose between them
A control is easier to set than to unset, which is the point of it. Establish these four things in writing before you pick one, so that the version you are relying on is the one that actually applies to your account:
- How long it runs, and what date it ends.
- Whether it can be shortened or lifted during that period, and if so how.
- What happens to a balance, to any open bets and to any pending withdrawal while it is in force.
- What happens at the end of the period — whether the account simply reopens or whether a step is needed.
If you are unsure which control fits, a deposit limit is the least disruptive place to start and can be tightened later. A time-out suits a break you intend to end. Self-exclusion suits a decision you do not intend to revisit. Choosing the strongest option you are willing to live with is usually better than choosing one you expect to argue your way out of.
Controls that sit outside the account
Some of the most effective controls sit outside any gambling account entirely, which is exactly what makes them robust: they stay in force even if you change your mind at two in the morning.
- A card block at your bank. Many banks offer a switch that blocks gambling transactions on a card, often with a delay built in before it can be turned off again. It is set in the banking app, not here.
- Blocking software on your devices. Software that blocks gambling sites at the device or network level covers every site at once rather than one at a time.
- An independent self-exclusion scheme. Schemes run by independent bodies apply across many sites at once and are joined directly with them. The responsible gambling page lists the organisations.
- Removing saved payment methods. Deleting stored cards from the account and from the browser adds friction at the exact moment friction is useful.
Money and open bets
A balance, an unsettled bet and a withdrawal already in progress are each handled separately from the control itself, and how they are handled can differ depending on which control is applied. If there is money in the account, ask what will happen to it in the same message in which you ask for the control — that answer arrives before the control is applied rather than after, when it is harder to act on.
If identity documents are outstanding at the same time, say so in the message, since a pending document request and a pending withdrawal interact. See identity documents.