Decide in advance
Fix the amount and the time before you start. A limit set beforehand holds; one negotiated mid-session is not a limit.
ROYAL77
Responsible Gaming
Gaming should stay entertainment. This page covers setting limits before you start, recognising when it has stopped being enjoyable, and where to find help that is independent of the brand.
Published by Royal77Last reviewed
The essentials
Four principles that keep gaming safe
None of these are complicated. They are difficult only in the moment, which is exactly why they are decided in advance.
Never chase a loss
Playing on to recover what is gone is the single most reliable route to losing much more. A loss is the cost of the entertainment, not a debt to be repaid.
Keep it one thing among many
It stays healthy while it is one activity among several. When it starts displacing work, sleep, money or people, that is the signal.
Asking early is easier
Support services are free, confidential and used by people at every stage. Nobody needs to reach a crisis to be entitled to talk to someone.
Setting limits that actually hold
The reason to set a limit before a session rather than during one is simple: the person deciding at the start and the person deciding an hour in are not equally well placed to judge. Only one of them has anything invested in the answer.
Use the platform’s own controls where they exist — deposit limits, session reminders, timeouts — because a limit the system enforces does not depend on your willingness to enforce it at the worst moment.
- Set the amount before you start, from money you would be entirely comfortable losing.
- Never use money committed to something else — rent, bills, food, savings, anything borrowed.
- Set a time limit and use an alarm outside the app, not your own sense of elapsed time.
- Stop when you reach either limit, whether you are ahead or behind.
- Do not play under stress, or under the influence of anything that affects judgement.
Recognising when it has changed
The shift from entertainment to a problem is gradual and easy to miss from inside it. What makes it recognisable is not the amount involved but the change in the role it plays: playing longer than intended, thinking about it between sessions, concealing it, or needing it to feel normal.
None of these on its own means something is wrong. Several of them together, over weeks, is worth taking seriously — and taking it seriously early is far easier than doing so later.
- Sessions regularly run longer, or cost more, than intended.
- Playing to recover losses rather than for enjoyment.
- Hiding how much time or money is involved from people close to you.
- Borrowing, or using money set aside for something else.
- Irritability, restlessness or low mood when unable to play.
- Work, study, sleep or relationships giving way to it.
Practical steps you can take today
- Set a deposit limit in the account area now, while it is not urgent.
- Turn on session reminders so time passing is visible.
- Use a timeout for a short break, or self-exclusion for a longer one.
- Remove saved payment details so a deposit requires a deliberate action.
- Tell someone you trust what limits you have set.
- Save the number of an independent support service before you need it.
These controls exist to be used routinely, not only in a crisis. Setting them is ordinary, and it is far more effective before there is a reason to.
Getting help
Support independent of the brand
Independent services are confidential, free, and not connected to any operator. Talking to one is not a commitment to anything.
What independent support looks like
Reputable services are free, confidential, and do not require you to give an identity or make any commitment to talk. They are staffed by people who have heard every version of this and will not lecture.
Look for a national or regional service in your own country: helplines, counselling, and self-help resources are the usual forms, and many offer online chat as well as a phone line if talking is difficult.
Helping someone else
If your concern is about a family member or a friend, most support services help affected others too — and that is worth knowing, because people often assume the help is only for the person playing.
Practically: raise it when nothing has just happened rather than immediately after a loss, describe what you have noticed rather than what you conclude from it, and avoid taking on their financial situation. Support services can advise on the specific situation better than any web page can.
Set your limits first
If you continue to the platform, set your limits during the first session — before there is any reason to.