Bet365 Safer Gambling Tools - How To Use and Stay Safe

Online gambling comes with unique risks as its illusion of control and the potential rewards can make it very easy to keep gambling beyond your means, and its accessibility can make it easy to lose track of time or gamble in situations you wouldn’t normally otherwise.

Because of this, like all regulated bookmakers and online gaming sites, Bet365 provides several tools to help you manage your gambling.

How to use the Bet365 Gambling Controls

• Log into your account at Bet365.com and access the Gambling Controls through your account menu.

• This will open the Gambling Controls menu. You will see all your available options on this page.
  • Deposit Limits - With Bet365, you can limit the amount you are able to deposit in a 24-hour, 7-day or 30-day period. You can reduce this limit immediately, but increases require a 24-hour cooling-off period.
  • Time Outs – Setting Time Outs allows you to restrict access to your Bet365 account for 24 hours, 48 hours, 7 days or 30 days if you are having problems with your gambling. You can also set custom timeouts; for example, you may wish to restrict your account every Friday night between 10 pm and 2 am or on Saturday afternoons.
  • Self Exclusion – You can exclude yourself from gambling for 6 months up to 5 years.
  • Reality Checks – Reality checks allow you to set a pop-up to appear when logged into your account for a pre-specified time.

• The My Activity option provides you with lots of information to manage your gambling, including your wins and losses, net deposits, the amount of time spent playing and the amount and timing of your bets.
• Deposit limits and reality checks can also be changed from this section and the main menu.

Deposit Limits

Selecting Deposit Limits from the menu will take you to the page to manage your limits or add new ones.

Limits can be set to whatever you like and cover 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days, or all three. Fill in the relevant box to change or add a limit, enter your password, and press submit.

Remember, limits can be reduced with immediate effect, but increases take 24 hours.

Time-Out

Time-Outs are suitable for those who wish to take a shorter break from gambling or restrict themselves from gambling at specific times.

When you access the Time-Out option, you will have the option to select set periods from 24 hours up to 30 days, during which you cannot deposit or use any Bet365 products, but you can make withdrawals.

You can also exclude yourself from gambling on a one-off or recurring basis for specific periods.

In this example, we have set a time limit from 10 pm on Friday until 5 am on Saturday. Bet365 will then offer you the option to set this as a recurring time-out on the same days each week.

Self-Exclusion

If you feel you need a longer break, Bet365 allows you to self-exclude for anything from 6 months to 5 years. You can also select individual products to self-exclude from, so, for example, you could self-exclude from Sports gambling but still access Casinos.

During the self-exclusion period, you cannot reactivate your account for any reason, and Bet365 will monitor for duplicate accounts.

It is worth noting that this only excludes you from Bet365. Other tools are available to self-exclude from all gambling, which we will cover later.

Reality Checks

The final option Bet365 offers is the ability to set Reality Checks. This option will show a pop-up to remind you when your account has been logged in for a preset time.

When this pop-up appears, you can remain logged in, log out, or review your account activity. If you choose to log out, you cannot log back into your account for 5 minutes.

To change your reality check time period, you simply have to enter a new time limit in the reality check section and enter your password. As with deposit limits, there is a 24-hour cooling-off period before you can increase your reality check time.

Criticisms and Regulatory Infringements

Although Bet365 has not received any official fines in the UK, it was criticised by the Daily Mail in 2019 for its cashback offer, which encouraged people with significant losses to keep gambling. Bet365 is also involved in litigation with a customer who lost hundreds of thousands of pounds with Bet365 and claims it failed to look for signs of problem gambling and check for the source of funds.

In other regions, Bet365 was fined £5,048,209 in 2023 in Sweden for failing to take sufficient measures to protect customers.

Bet365 also faced a fine in the Netherlands for breaching gambling advertising regulations with an advert aimed at young viewers. However, the ASA did not uphold a similar complaint in the UK regarding a Twitter advert featuring Chris Eubank Jr.

Although the safer gambling branding is not highly visible on the Bet365 website, their social media is regularly updated with links to self-assessment tools and blocking software.

Other Useful Tools

As well as tools offered directly by Bet365, you can access external tools that will help you manage your gambling.

• Banking Blocks - Most major banks offer the option to block gambling transactions on debit cards. This can be done through the website or app, or by calling the bank directly.
• Multi-operator Self-Exclusion - Self-exclusion can be completed on an operator's website, but does not exclude you from gambling elsewhere. Signing up for GAMSTOP means that any operator licensed in Great Britain will check your details, and you will be unable to open new accounts or use existing accounts. www.gamstop.co.uk
• Gambling Specific Blocking Software - Several software options are available to block access to gambling websites. GamBan can be accessed free through GamCare, but you must make a phone call for a license. Others may charge a small subscription fee.
  • gamban.com
  • betfilter.com
  • gamblock.com
• Web Filtering Software - An alternative is general web blocking software that allows you to block access to a wide range of content.
  • www.netnanny.com
  • cybersitter.27labs.com

Useful Resources