Responsible Gambling

Gambling can be entertaining when it stays within limits you set yourself. When it stops being that — when chasing losses, hiding spend or feeling unable to stop become familiar — it is a problem worth taking seriously. This page sets out the tools available to you, the organisations that can help and the steps any player on Legionbet can take right now to stay in control.

18+ only. If gambling is causing you or someone you know distress, contact BeGambleAware or GamCare for free, confidential support.

Who This Page Is For

This guidance is written for adults in Great Britain who gamble online — whether on casino sites, sportsbooks or both. It is relevant regardless of which operator you use, including those listed on our non-GAMSTOP casino guide. If you are under 18, please leave any gambling site immediately.

Recognising Problem Gambling

Problem gambling rarely announces itself. It tends to develop gradually, and most people find it easier to spot in others than in themselves. The following signs are worth knowing:

Spending more than you planned, session after session
Borrowing money or selling possessions to fund gambling
Chasing losses — betting more to recover what you have lost
Lying to friends or family about how much time or money you spend gambling
Gambling to escape stress, anxiety or low mood rather than for entertainment
Feeling irritable or restless when trying to cut back
Neglecting work, relationships or bills because of gambling
Being unable to stop even when you want to

Experiencing even one of these consistently is a signal worth acting on. You do not need to hit a crisis point before reaching out for support.

Tools You Can Use Right Now

Most licensed operators — and many Curaçao-licensed sites that accept UK players — offer built-in tools to help you set boundaries before they become necessary. Using them proactively is far easier than trying to apply them mid-session. Here is what to look for:

Deposit Limits

Set a maximum amount you can deposit per day, week or month. Once the limit is reached, the site will not accept further deposits until the period resets. Increasing a deposit limit should always involve a cooling-off period of at least 24 hours — any site that raises it instantly is not taking this seriously.

Loss Limits

Similar to deposit limits, but capped on net losses rather than deposits. Useful if you want to allow winnings to be reinvested but still contain downside risk within a session or period.

Session Time Limits and Reality Checks

Set a maximum playing time per session, or opt into reminders that pop up after a set interval showing how long you have been playing and how much you have spent. These are particularly useful because the casino environment is deliberately designed to make time pass unnoticed.

Cooling-Off Periods

A short-term break — typically 24 hours to 6 weeks — during which you cannot log in or deposit. Useful if you feel your play is becoming impulsive but you are not ready to commit to a longer exclusion.

Self-Exclusion

A formal request to be banned from a specific operator, usually for a minimum of 6 months. This is not a pause — it is intended to be a hard stop. Read the section below on GAMSTOP for how to extend self-exclusion across multiple UK-licensed sites at once.

GAMSTOP: What It Is and What It Covers

GAMSTOP is the UK's free, national self-exclusion scheme. Registering at gamstop.co.uk means your details are passed to every operator holding a UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) licence. You can choose to exclude yourself for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. Once registered, your exclusion cannot be reversed before the period ends.

GAMSTOP only applies to UKGC-licensed operators. Sites operating under a Curaçao eGaming licence — including many of those listed on this site — are not part of the scheme. This is an important distinction for any UK player to understand before using a non-GAMSTOP casino. It does not mean those sites are without any tools, but it does mean GAMSTOP registration alone is not sufficient if you also use offshore sites.

If you are registered with GAMSTOP and looking for ways around it, this is not a service we provide or encourage. We strongly recommend speaking to GamCare (freephone 0808 8020 133) before taking any further steps.

UK Support Organisations

Support is available at no cost, and you do not need to have reached rock bottom to use it. The following organisations are staffed by trained advisors who deal specifically with gambling harm:

Organisation	Contact	What They Offer
GamCare	0808 8020 133 (free, 24/7)	Helpline, live chat, counselling, forum
BeGambleAware	begambleaware.org	Information, self-assessment, referral to treatment
Gamblers Anonymous UK	0330 094 0322	Peer support meetings (in-person and online)
Gordon Moody	gordonmoody.org.uk	Residential treatment for severe gambling disorder
NHS Northern Gambling Service	Via GP referral or self-referral online	Clinical treatment across England

If you are in immediate financial difficulty linked to gambling, StepChange (stepchange.org) offers free debt advice and is experienced in cases where gambling is a contributing factor.

Gambling on Non-GAMSTOP Sites: What UK Players Should Know

Several casinos available to UK players hold a Curaçao eGaming licence rather than a UKGC licence. This is legal — a UK adult is not prohibited from playing on an offshore site — but it carries different consumer protections. Specifically:

The UKGC's mandatory responsible gambling tools do not automatically apply
GAMSTOP exclusions are not enforced
Dispute resolution through the UKGC is not available
Financial promotion rules differ from those applied to UKGC licensees

This does not mean responsible tools are absent. Many Curaçao-licensed operators do offer deposit limits, self-exclusion and cooling-off options — but implementation varies significantly by site. Before depositing at any offshore casino, check what tools are available in the responsible gambling or account settings section, and read the Terms and Conditions carefully.

Our full guide to non-GAMSTOP casinos covers how these sites differ from UKGC-licensed alternatives, including what to check before you play.

Protecting Younger People

If there are children or teenagers in your household, consider installing parental control software that blocks access to gambling websites. Free tools include:

Gamban — blocks gambling sites across all devices on a plan (free for those in treatment, low cost otherwise)
NetNanny and Bark — general parental controls that can be configured to block gambling categories
Most broadband providers offer content filtering at router level — contact your ISP to activate it

Never share your login credentials, and ensure any payment methods linked to your casino accounts are not accessible to others in your household.

How to Self-Exclude From a Specific Site

The exact process differs between operators, but the general steps are consistent:

Log in to your account
Navigate to the Responsible Gambling, Account Settings or My Account section
Select Self-Exclusion or a cooling-off option
Choose your exclusion period and confirm — some sites require email confirmation
Keep a record of your confirmation, and contact support if you do not receive one within 24 hours

If you cannot find self-exclusion options or the site makes it difficult to apply them, contact the operator's customer support directly and request exclusion by email. Keep a copy of the exchange. For UKGC-licensed operators, the regulator can intervene if a site fails to honour a self-exclusion request.

Making Gambling Safer — Practical Habits

Beyond formal tools, the following habits reduce the risk that gambling becomes harmful:

Set a budget before you open the site — decide the maximum you will spend that session, treat it as gone the moment you deposit it, and leave when it is used
Never chase losses — the next bet does not statistically recover previous losses; this is a cognitive distortion the industry is built around
Avoid gambling when emotional — stress, boredom, anxiety and alcohol all impair judgement and raise risk
Keep a record — a simple note of deposits, wins and losses makes it much harder to minimise the real figures in your own mind
Take regular breaks — step away from the screen for at least a few minutes every hour
Only gamble with money you can afford to lose — this is not a cliché; any money needed for rent, bills or food is not disposable income

Our Commitment on This Site

Legionbet earns revenue through affiliate relationships — when you visit an operator via a link on this site and register, we may receive a commission. That relationship is disclosed openly and does not change the guidance on this page. Responsible gambling information is not contingent on commercial arrangements, and we do not suppress it to protect partner relationships.

We do not assist players in circumventing self-exclusion or GAMSTOP registrations. If you arrived on this site looking for that, please speak to GamCare on 0808 8020 133 before doing anything else.

If you have questions about how this site operates, the Contact Us page is open, and our About Us page explains how we research and rate the operators we cover.

18+ only. Gambling should be entertaining, not a source of income or a way to manage distress. Please play within your means.