Responsible gaming at 888starz

Responsible gaming: three decisions taken in advance

This page is written plainly rather than warmly, because the subject deserves it. Almost everything that keeps betting enjoyable is decided before a session starts, not during one, and it comes down to three numbers you choose while nothing is at stake.

How much

Pick the amount of this month's spare money you are willing to spend, and treat it as a ceiling rather than a starting point. Money set aside for rent, food or debts is not spare money. If an evening goes badly, that amount is what the evening cost — the same way a night out costs what it costs.

How long

Sessions drift. Deciding in advance how long you intend to play, and setting the account's own reminder to tell you, keeps an hour from quietly becoming four. The faster the format, the more this matters: crash rounds and speed tables compress a lot of decisions into very little time.

What you will not do

The one rule worth writing down is that a bad session ends when it ends. Staking more to recover what has gone is the single most common way a manageable amount stops being manageable, and it feels reasonable in the moment, which is exactly why it needs deciding beforehand.

Tools that hold the decisions for you

• deposit limits — a daily, weekly or monthly ceiling that cannot be raised instantly;
• session reminders — a message telling you how long you have been playing;
• time out — a short lock, from a day to a few weeks;
• self-exclusion — a long lock for when a break needs to be firm.

When it stops being a pastime

Playing to win back what was lost, borrowing to continue, keeping it from people who would notice, or finding it hard to stop when you meant to — any of these is a reason to use one of the tools above today rather than eventually. Free, confidential help exists in most countries by phone and by chat. Your national health service can point you to someone who deals with this specifically, and the operator's support team can apply a limit or an exclusion on request. Setting a limit while everything is fine is the easiest version of this conversation you will ever have.