Responsible gambling for UK players
If gambling is costing you more money or time than you meant to spend, the free help on this page comes first. This page has no casino links and no offers.
Free help for UK players
The National Gambling Helpline answers on 0808 8020 133 for England and Scotland. The NHS Wales Helpline answers on 0808 2819 265 for Wales.
GambleAware lists both lines on its help page and says: "These support services are available only to Great Britain residents." We hold no number for a Northern Ireland help line, so this page gives none.
Keep it in proportion
Set a budget before you play and treat it as money spent, not money to win back. Set a time limit as well, take breaks, and stop when either limit is reached.
Some of the casinos we write about state their own tools. Mr Q lists spend limits, reality checks, time-outs and self-exclusion, and MyStake and DonBet offer self-exclusion by email for six months to five years. Set those limits when you open an account rather than after a loss.
Chasing losses, hiding your play from people close to you or borrowing to gamble are signs to stop now and call one of the help lines on this page.
Sister sites and self-exclusion
A sister site is never a way around a self-exclusion. Where a casino's terms extend a self-exclusion to the other sites its company runs, the exclusion covers those linked accounts too. Where the terms say nothing, do not treat a sister as open to you: exclude there as well.
The Gambling Commission states: "Gambling businesses are required to have their own self-exclusion arrangements in place." Gamstop blocks every licensed site at once: "When you register with Gamstop Online you’ll be blocked from accessing gambling websites and apps licensed in Great Britain."
Gamstop does not reach a site without a British licence. DonBet, MyStake and Velobet, which we write about, claim no British licence. If you have self-excluded, do not open an account with a casino like them.
How we decide that two casinos are sisters is set out on our method page and in Casino sister sites explained.
Adults only
Gambling is for adults. The Gambling Commission states: "In most cases, the minimum legal age for gambling in Great Britain is 18." Puntide is written for readers aged 18 and over.
To keep gambling sites away from children on a shared device, give each person their own user account on it and keep yours locked with a password. Do not save casino logins or payment cards in the browser, and sign out of any gambling account when you finish. Turn on the device's built-in parental controls and, where your broadband provider offers one, its content filter, with gambling set as a blocked category.