Responsible gambling on Betmica: our safer play tools and UK helplines

We take responsibility for the safer play experience on our platform. This page sets out the safer play tools we make available on every account and lists the UK helplines that support players who want a broader route than the one on the account itself. We ask you to read this page before you make a first deposit on the platform, and we make the page reachable from the footer of every screen on the site.

Who is old enough to play on our platform

You must be 18 or over to open an account or place a stake on our platform. We verify the age of every account through the identity documents uploaded on the verification desk, and we cannot release a withdrawal from an account until the verification pass is on file. If an account is opened by a person under 18 we close the account and refund the deposit balance to the route it was made from once the age issue is confirmed.

Gambling can lead to real financial harm and it can also affect other parts of daily life. We ask every player to open the account only after they have set a sitting budget aside on the wallet, and we ask you to treat the wallet balance as the ceiling on your sitting rather than as a floor to top up from other sources. We do not lend, extend credit or hold funds for a player outside the standard wallet on the account.

Deposit, loss and session limits on the account

Every account on our platform carries three limit tools. The deposit limit sets a ceiling on the total deposit through a day, a week or a month. The loss limit sets a ceiling on net losses through the same three windows. The session limit signs the account out after a set number of minutes on the current sitting. All three limits are opened from the responsible play tab in the account header, and they take effect the moment they are confirmed on the tab.

A reduction to any of the three limits takes effect immediately. An increase to any of the three limits takes effect only after a cooling off window on our platform, so a player who lowers the deposit limit in a moment of resolve is not able to raise it back through a single click during the same sitting. The current limit and the pending change (if any) are printed on the responsible play tab at all times, and the tab is one tap from the account header on every screen.

Self exclusion on our platform

Self exclusion is offered from the responsible play tab and it is available on windows of a day, a week, a month, six months and a permanent close. A self exclusion locks the account for the duration of the window and it cannot be lifted before the window closes on our side. A day, a week, a month and a six month exclusion re-open the account the moment the window passes, and a permanent close closes the account without a re-open path on our side.

During a self exclusion we do not send promotional emails to the account, we do not open the account to a fresh sign in from the login panel and we do not credit any bonus that a scheduled promotion would otherwise land on the account. Any qualifying withdrawal that was in progress at the moment the exclusion started is completed to the nominated withdrawal route.

GAMSTOP and cross site self exclusion

GAMSTOP is a free service in the United Kingdom that lets a player self exclude from operators registered with the scheme with a single sign up. A GAMSTOP sign up covers a broad range of UK licensed operators and it is a good route for a player who wants a single cross site exclusion rather than an operator by operator opt out. You can sign up at gamstop.co.uk. GAMSTOP applies at the scheme level and is a strong recommendation for any player who wants a wider safeguard than the one on our account.

UK safer play helplines

The following organisations offer free support to players in the United Kingdom, and we ask you to reach out to any of them if you are concerned about your own play or the play of a friend or family member.

• National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, answered around the clock, staffed by GamCare.
• GamCare at gamcare.org.uk, offering free information, advice and support.
• BeGambleAware at begambleaware.org, offering resources on the risks of gambling and paths to support.
• GAMSTOP at gamstop.co.uk, offering free cross site self exclusion for players in the United Kingdom.

Signs that play is no longer safer play

If any of the following are true for you or for someone you live with, we ask you to pause a sitting and to reach out to one of the helplines listed above. Spending more than a set sitting budget in a single sitting. Chasing a loss with a deposit that would not have been made at the start of the sitting. Borrowing to fund a stake. Hiding the extent of a sitting from a partner, family member or housemate. Missing work, sleep or a meal because of a sitting. Feeling anxious, low or unable to stop between sittings. These are the signs the UK helplines listed above ask players to watch for, and we print them here because we would rather name them than let them go unnamed.

Controls we run on our side

On our side we monitor account activity for patterns that we treat as flags for a possible problem: a sharp rise in deposits inside a short window, a set of chased losses inside a single sitting, repeated failed deposit attempts on the cashier and any request to raise a limit outside a cooling off window. Where a flag is raised we may reach out to the player through the account inbox, we may put a temporary hold on the account until the flag is cleared and we may recommend a period of self exclusion. These controls sit alongside the tools you can set yourself on the responsible play tab, and they are meant to catch a pattern before it turns into real harm.