This week is UK and Ireland-wide Safer Gambling Week 2023. This cross-industry initiative features a host of big names from the United Kingdom and Ireland all combining to promote Safer Gambling and the tools, resources and help available to ensure that people gamble responsibly.
Multiple betting, casino, poker, bingo, lottery and other gambling companies will be taking part in the promotion which runs from the 13th to the 19th November inclusive.
Many will be using their social media presence (X, Facebook and Instagram) to highlight safer gambling initiatives.
This will include how to recognise when you have a gambling problem, the resources available to help you gamble more safely and the simple steps to follow to ensure that you gamble safely.
A quick search on X (formerly Twitter) using the phrase #SGWeek2023 will bring up some of the latest posts about the week from a whole host of companies.
One of the big companies participating in Safer Gambling Week is the bet365 family of sites which includes bet365 Sport, bet365 Casino and bet365 Poker amongst others.
Bet365 has long established its responsible gambling service to customers, so in this article, we are going to look at what those features are and how you can utilise them to ensure that you bet responsibly.
Bet365’s Safer Gambling Site Tools & Utilities
Bet365 has a dedicated safer gambling section on its website which is home to a number of articles and features on the site which give guidance and practical help to customers to ensure that they gamble responsibly.
Let’s take a look at them in a bit more detail.
- Bet365’s Mission Statement
The sub-headline of Bet365’s About Safer Gambling mission statement is the perfect encapsulation of what Safer Gambling Week is about. It reads:
“Safer Gambling is for everyone, regardless of whether you identify yourself as having a gambling problem.”
It’s mission statement reads:
“bet365 is committed to Safer Gambling. We promote gambling as an enjoyable leisure activity, and we believed that gambling can only remain this way if you stay in control and gamble responsibly. However, we know that for some people gambling can stop being a harmless leisure activity and become a problem.”
The statement also gives practical ways for players to gamble responsibly and also a short Self-Assessment form which can help you recognise if you have a gaming problem.
There are also links to gambling support organisations, advice on how to understand how gambling works and your chances of winning.
- My Activity
The My Activity option allows you to clearly see your activity on the bet365 family of sites. This includes a history of your transactions, deposits and withdrawls, over a period of 7 days, 30 days or 12 months.
Additionally, you can see a history of your bets made in this section of the site and here also shows how many bets you have won, as well as how much you have lost.
This gives you a clear indication of how much you are spending on your wagering over the selected time period.
Furthermore, the Net Deposits section shows how much you have made in deposits into your account over the stated period, combined with how many withdrawals you have made over the same time.
This account history section is an ideal way to get a greater overview of your account and understand how much you spend per week, per month, or per year on your gambling.
- Deposit Limits
One of the most popular ways to control your gambling safely is to ensure your account has relevant deposit limits set for either a 24 hour, 7 day or 30 day period.
This is a simple and practical way to ensure that you never gamble more than you can afford as once your deposit limit has been set, it cannot be overridden.
Of course, your deposit limit should be commensurate with the amount of money you have available to gamble from your disposable income. You can also decrease your deposit limits at any time.
However, you cannot increase a deposit limit immediately. If you wish to increase a limit, you will have to wait 24 hours before bet365 will action your request. When you log back in the following day, you will then have to confirm that you still want the deposit limit increased.
This 24-hour delay helps stop impulsive players betting more and more to try and chase their losses.
- Reality Checks
Managing how much you spend on bet365 is one thing, but a great way to ensure you gamble safely is to also limit the time you spend on site. Setting up a Reality Check alert on your account can help you keep track of just how long you spend online on the site.
You can decide how long the pop-up alert will be displayed, reminding you of how long you have been logged in to your account.
You can increase the frequency of the alerts immediately, but any decrease in the frequency of the alerts will take 24-hours to be actioned by the company.
- Time Out
Another great way to manage your betting is to give yourself a short break from betting. With bet365’s Time Out option, you can take a Time Out for a period of 24 hours, 48 hours, 7 days or 30 days.
Alternatively, you can set a custom amount of time which you will not be allowed to use your account for betting or gaming. You can though log in and withdraw cash from your balance.
Once a time-out is in place, you cannot reactivate your account until the chosen period of time has ended.
- Self-Exclusion
If you feel you have developed a gambling problem, or are at risk of doing so, then you can use the Self-Exclusion option to prevent you gambling with bet365 for a period of 6 months, a yeat, 2 years, or 5 years.
As with a time out, with Self-Exclusion, you won’t be able to bet or game on any bet365 site, but you can log in to your account and make withdrawals.
It will not be possible to open your account during your period of self-exclusion and bet365 will do its utmost to detect if you subsequently open another account, to ensure they are closed.
You can decide which sections of the bet365 site you would like to limit your ability to use, such as sports betting, poker, bingo or other gaming products.
Additionally, bet365 provides useful links to companies that offer support for customers with Safer Gambling issues.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of safer gambling resources available on the bet365 site, so if you are a customer of the company, regardless of whether you think you have a gambling problem or not, now may be the perfect time to check the Safer Gambling section at bet365 out and evaluate your own betting behaviour!