If A Poker Player Or Punter Has A Problem What Can Bet365 Do To Help?

When you have joined a site like Bet365 Poker or Bet365 Sport, then you will notice that the site actively promotes Resposible Gambling in many different ways. Indeed, a quick look at the TV advertising campaign for Bet365 show just how much the site takes offering a fair and responsible gambling service to its customers seriously.

The driving force for this change has largely been the effect of the 2005 Gambling Act in the UK, which dealt with how online gambling sites were now expected to provide a duty of care towards their customers. Protecting the vulnerable and under age via a number of measures, while attempting to ensure that their customers only gambled in a sensible fashion.

What is clear in the documentation of the Act, also known as the Responsible Gambling Act, is that companies that provide online gambling sites, such as sports betting or poker, have to adhere to this regardless of the type of betting activity on offer.

As such, all the approaches outlined below on Bet365 apply right across the full range of Bet365 sites. Bet365 Casino, Bet365 Games, Bet365 Vegas, Bet365 Sports, Bet365 Poker and Bet365 Bingo.

Is a lack of Responsible Gambling a major problem?

Of course, anyone with a gambling problem can be facing serious consequences as a result of their inactions, however while gambling can be a problem for people like this, the key thing to note is that for the vast majority of people, responsible gambling is something they do automatically.

It is only a small number of players that ever really need to take a look at themselves when it comes to responsible gambling and there is a multi-faceted approach Bet365 takes towards helping people come to terms with the issue.

In the first place, there are measures in place to stop people who may feel they are at risk from irresponsible gambling, developing those habits in the first place. Prevention. Secondly, there are tools to people that feel they may have an issue to help them deal with the problem and lastly, if people feel they need additional support, there are links to several organisations that can provide help and support for people with a gambling issue.

Before we take a look at these features in more detail, it does help to have a clearer understanding of what problematic behaviour surrounding gambling looks like and how it manifests itself.

How to identify if you are at risk of problems when gambling

Bet365 has handy section on self-assessment which provides you with eight simple questions which you answer to ascertain whether you have a problem with gambling. The more you answer yes to each of the questions, the more likely it is you have a gambling problem.

The questions are along the lines of:

• Do you gamble to enjoy respite from an unhappy or dull life?
• When you place a wager and run out of money, do you feel unhappy and a need to place a bet again as soon as possible afterwards?
• Do you gamble until all your money has gone, even if it means that you don’t have enough money to get home or for a cup of tea?
• Do you lie to friends or family to cover up the amount of time and money you spend gambling?
• Does gambling come as a top priority in your life ahead of family, friends, work or othr hobbies or similar?
• Do you always try to chase your losses?
• Do you gamble when depressed, sad, angry?
• Have you ever felt depressed or suicidal because of your gambling?

It is clear that if you answer yes to these questions, or even just a selection of them, then you could have an issue with gambling that needs addressing, however if you answer no to them all, then it is equally likely that you have a healthy relationship with gambling.

How else does Bet365 promote Responsible Gambling to its customers?

In addition to the Self-Assessment questionnaire that Bet365 have on offer to help customers identify if they have an issue with gambling, there are a number of other features on the site designed to help and inform customers.

This is backed up by an advertising campaign that offers constant reminders that punters should “gamble responsibly at Bet365”.

For further information on the information and services Bet365 offer for responsible gambling, you can click on the link at the foot of the home page of all Bet365 sites. This will take you to a pop up menu that deals with all aspects of Responsible Gambling.  You can also find this option under the Services tab on Bet365 Sports.

In addition to the Self-Assessment questionnaire, there are several other sections available for punters to peruse:

• Keeping Control – A simple guideline as to some of the positive attitudes you should nurture when you are gambling with Bet365 or indeed any other providers, as well as looking at some of the options available if people start to recognise problematic habits. These options make up the remainder of the Responsible Gambling section.
• Managing Limits – There are two options here which allow you different ways to limit your activity on Bet365. The Deposit Limit option limits how much you are allowed to deposit into your account within a stated time frame (this can be 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days). You can reduce your limit immediately at any time, but any increase requires a 24-hour cooling off period to allow you time to think whether you need to increase it.  The Reality Checks option allows you to state how long you want to spend on site in any session and when this period of time passes, a reminder appears on the screen to inform you that your time limit has been reached.
• Time Out – Customers can ask for a break from all activity with Bet365 for 24 or 48 hours, a week or 30 days during which they will not be able to place any bets on any Bet365 platform.  You can however still withdraw any cash in your account back to your bank balance.
• Self Exclusion – Continuing on from the Time Out, if you feel you cannot bet any longer than you can self-exclude yourself from all activity on Bet365 sites for between six months and five years. During which you won’t be able to bet on any site with Bet365, or open a new account with them.

For people that have reached the conclusion that they do have a problem with gambling then Bet365 also offers links to a number of support organisations designed to help. They are GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous, GambleAware and Gambling Therapy.

Furthermore, they also provide links to software that can block gambling sites on a specific computer and which also help deter younger people from attempting to gamble when they are not legally old enough to do so.  These can be used with the controls in the Parental Controls section to help stop children accessing gambling sites.

Bet365 do a huge amount to promote a healthy relationship with gambling for their customers, but also offer extensive support, features and measures to help those in danger of developing poor habits.