Betting responsibly sounds easy on the surface. But it’s only after you’ve fallen in love with slots or sports betting that you realize it isn’t. Sticking to your budget is the most challenging bit of online gambling.

You might think you’ll follow your budget consistently. Unfortunately, emotions, a losing streak or friends can pressure you into spending more money than you should.

The government knows it’s difficult to bet cautiously. As a result, it mandates every gambling company in the country to provide the following responsible gambling tools to their customers.

GamStop Exclusion Program

The government doesn’t necessarily want you to stop enjoying bingo and slots. However, through GamStop, it gives you the choice to take a break from gambling if you ever need one.

GamStop is a straightforward platform. It asks you to choose the duration of time you want to quit gambling. It could be six months, one or five years. During this period, you can play at any casino in the UK.

If you join GamStop and change your mind, the only way you can bet online is through new casinos not on Gamstop. Most of these sites are based overseas. That’s alright. But it means you should take more steps in finding a safe and trustworthy casino.

Are non-Gamstop casinos better? The short answer is it depends. Overseas gambling sites tend to provide bigger bonuses. They also have a wider range of games. As mentioned, though, they’re not based in the UK.

A Responsible Gambling Section

This might come as a surprise to some, but every gambling site in the UK features a section dedicated to responsible gambling. Usually, casinos use this section to remind you to gamble responsibly.

Additionally, they inform you about measures you can take to deal with problem gambling. For example, you can contact begambleaware.org to speak to a professional.

Some of them show you a list of tools you can use to play more responsibly. For example, you can take timed breaks or limit your weekly betting amounts. In the worst-case scenario, you can close your account.

Not every site has all the tools mentioned above. As such, research around to ensure you’re joining a site that cares about your personal well-being.

Deposit and Withdrawal Limits

Many online casinos in the UK have a minimum deposit of £10 and a maximum of £10,000. Some casinos allow you to deposit up to £100,000. But they might ask for documents that prove you can afford high-stakes gambling.

The reason casinos have deposit limits is that they’re mandated to do so by law. The Gambling Commission set out these limits to reduce the number of problem gamblers in the country.

In all fairness, payment limits aren’t enforced to protect casino players only. The government mandates limits to fight money laundering. That’s why you can’t send more than £1000 or £5000 per day using many digital wallets.

When it comes to withdrawals, casinos don’t prevent you from winning loads of money. If you’re lucky, you could break Jon Heywood’s £13.2M jackpot windfall won back in 2015.

With most jackpot winnings, casinos process the entire amount instantly. If you win money from a non-jackpot game, you must adhere to the site’s daily, weekly and monthly limits.

Account Monitoring

By law, gambling sites in the UK must observe their customers and help players with signs of problem gambling. The Gambling Commission does not hesitate to fine casinos millions of pounds or suspend their accounts if found unwilling to help problem gamblers.

The UKGC requires casinos and sportsbooks to contact players who spend unusually large sums of money on their sites. They should also speak to players who spend odds number of hours gambling.

If a player has signs of problem gambling, a casino is required to help this player seek out therapy. It should also impose deposit limits or ask the player to join GamStop for a while until they have better control over their gambling hobby.

The UKGC encourages its casinos and sportsbooks to work together to protect vulnerable players. This means you one casino bans for having a gambling problem, there’s a chance other casinos will do the same.

Advertising and Marketing Regulations

The online gambling sector must follow certain strict guidelines when advertising. For starters, casinos and sportsbooks can’t run ads on TV and radio during the day. This is especially true for channels that target young audiences.

Gambling companies can sponsor sports and local events. But this might soon change. The government is proposing a complete ban of gambling sponsorships in sports, especially on the front of jerseys.

Although casinos can’t market their brands using bonuses, they must have bonus limits. Many UK casinos limit your welcome bonus at £100 or £200. Also, they have policies like wager requirements withdrawal limits that discourage too much usage of promotions.

Another rule created to help lower problem gambling is a limit on competitions. If a casino holds an in-house tournament, the cash prize can’t be too huge. This helps discourage players from spending too much time and money on the competition.

Reviewing Gambling Laws

Unlike many countries, the UK government is constantly reviewing the Gambling Act of 2005. For example, it reviewed its laws in 2019 and banned the use of credit cards.

The government banned credit cards to discourage people from using borrowed money for gambling. In 2020, advocates asked the government to review gambling laws again to make them stricter.

Last April, the prime minister released a white paper packed with proposals meant to help the country fight irresponsible gaming. Some of the proposals might put casinos out of business. But they’re necessary.

For example, there’s a proposal to make deposit limits compulsory. Also, casinos will now review your activities if you lose more than £125 daily for a month or longer. If you lose £1000 in a day or more, you should expect questions about your ability to afford losing such a huge amount of money.

Casinos are expected to fight proposals in the white paper. But one thing is certain. More responsible gaming restrictions should be expected.

Gambling can be addictive, please play responsibly. Click HERE for free, confidential advice if you are worried about your gambling.