bet365 Safer Gambling Tools - How To Use and Stay Safe

Online gambling has its own set of dangers. The feeling that you have control and the chance to win big can lead you to keep gambling when you can't afford it. Plus, it's so easy to access that you might lose track of time or gamble when you normally wouldn't.

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 in to 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 can 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 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, 30 days, or all three. To change or add a limit, fill in the relevant box, enter your password, and press submit.

Remember, limits can be reduced immediately, 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 can select set periods from 24 hours up to 30 days during which you cannot deposit or use any bet365 products but 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 10:00 p.m. on Friday until 5:00 a.m. 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 you could, for example, 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.

If you want to change how often you get reminded about your gambling time, just go to the reality check part and put in a new time. Then, type in your password. Just like with deposit limits, you'll have to wait for 24 hours before you can make the reality check time longer.

Criticisms and Regulatory Infringements

In 2024, bet365 was fined £582,120 for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures. The money from the fine will be used for socially responsible causes as part of an agreement with regulators. They found these problems during a compliance check in March 2022. Some issues included not tailoring their approach to customers well, having an ineffective risk-detection system, and not checking new customers properly for money laundering risks. These fines show how important it is for online gambling companies to have strict rules to keep gambling safer and to stop money laundering. bet365 has previously been 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.

The Daily Mail also criticised the Company in 2019 for its cashback offer, which encouraged people with significant losses to keep gambling.

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 bet365 website does not prominently display safer gambling branding, its social media channels are regularly updated with links to self-assessment tools and blocking software.

Other Useful Tools

In addition to the 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 bank's 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