safer-gambling

Betting & Gaming Safely

Smart betting

As a partner of Paddy Power Betfair it is your responsibility to market our brands on our behalf but also adapt our commitment to Safe Gambling.

At PPB, our commitment is to doing something about the problems, through:

What is safer gambling?

Essentially, when we talk about safer gambling, we mean any betting that isn’t causing harm. If betting is creating financial stress, anxiety, depression or affecting your life in a negative way overall, then it’s not safe.

How can we help?

We want to be a part of the solution. So, what we do to tackle the problem, is provide help both from ourselves, and from other organisations that specialise in helping people with gambling problems. See our ‘Tools’ section for ways that we can help (https://responsiblegambling.betfair.com/tools/).

How can you help?

As an affiliate and partner, it is important to be up to date on the tools available to you to help promote Safer Gambling; these tools will equip you to deal with any issues you might see regards harmful behaviour with your audience, marketing or customers. Please review the below tools carefully in order to continue to promote Safer Gambling.

Tools to Help

Practical things to help stop a problem getting worse

The below tools let you self-check, to see if you have a problem, and then take measures to stop you gambling if you need to. These can be broadcast to your audiences or help you guide customers towards them should they reach out or you spot signs of harmful behaviour:

Deposit Limit

Limit the amount you can lodge to your account, so you can’t gamble with more than this.

We ask you to always bet sensibly, and within your budget. To help you stay in control, you can specify a daily, weekly or monthly deposit limit. Once set, we will warn you when you’re trying to deposit more than your limit, whether online or on your mobile. The deposit limit is not affected by any transfers of money between wallets or by withdrawals. If you increase the amount or frequency (making the limit less restrictive), it will not take effect for 7 days. Decreases take immediate effect.

Loss Limit

Set a limit on the amount you can lose or transfer for a period of your choice. If you increase the amount or frequency, it will not take effect for 7 days. Decreases take immediate effect.

Time Out

Choose how long you would like to suspend access to your account for. This gives you a choice of how long you would like to suspend access to your Betfair account for between 1-30 days. During your selected period you will be locked out from playing on the Betfair site. This will block you from using all products on the Betfair website for the period of your choosing.

Session Timer

Choose how long you would like to suspend access to your account for. This gives you a choice of how long you would like to suspend access to your Betfair account for between 1-30 days. During your selected period you will be locked out from playing on the Betfair site. This will block you from using all products on the Betfair website for the period of your choosing.

Reality Checks

This will remind you while playing gaming products after a period you choose.

You will have the option to stop playing or to dismiss the reminder and continue playing.

  • The Reality Check covers only the games played with real money and will be initiated by a bet placement.
  • The Reality Check will be applied per Gaming Session. Such a session includes the betting activity on all the games played on Casino, Games and Bingo which take place in the same Betfair session. The betting activity on Poker will be covered separately as distinct Gaming Sessions.
  • Changes to your Reality Checks will take effect after you log out and login again. Please do this after saving your changes or the check will not be activated until your next login.

Self-Exclusion

This will block you from using the site, or a particular product on the site, for at least 6 months. You can choose which products you want to be excluded from or whether you want to be excluded from the site as a whole. This action cannot be reversed under any circumstances.

Budget Calculator

This budget calculator will help you work out how much money you spend and where you spend it each month. You may find some surprises.

Self-Assessment

Gamcare.org.uk have a simple test on their website to help you assess if your gambling is causing a problem.

Spotting the Signs

Often people bet together as a social activity – which makes sense, as it’s a form of entertainment, particularly sports betting. Its important that you as an affiliate and partner are fully up to date on how to best help your customers spot the warning signs.

Below are some tips to share with your audience on how to spot these signs:

Here are some ways that people behave, when they’ve got an issue with problem gambling;

  • Pre-occupation: We all like to relive our wins, but if it’s all the time, it’s not healthy.
  • Tolerance: Increasing the stake that’s bet, to get the same kick out of it.
  • Missing work, college or uni: are they away from where they should be, and in the bookies?
  • Unable to stop: Have they tried gambling before and not been able to?
  • Irritability: Are they moody when they can’t get a bet on.
  • Escape from reality: Do they use betting to get away from it all, if they’re having trouble at home, or in work?
  • Chasing losses: Do they try to win back money if they’ve lost a bit.
  • Concealing: Do they have their phone under the table constantly putting bets on?
  • Borrowing money: Have they ever asked you or any of your other mates for money, so they could put a bet on?
  • Lying about gambling: Nobody likes to admit to losing a bet but hiding it can be a sign of a deeper problem.

What to do?

Sometimes, intervention can seem tough. It can be easy to shrug it off as someone’s own problem, to be tackled by them, if they choose to. But if you notice a few of the signs mentioned in someone you know, at least you’ve identified the problem.

How you address it can vary.

Maybe you’re not the best person to mention it to them, but perhaps you know the person best placed to say it. Often it does help if it’s two or three people, so that they see it’s not just one person’s opinion. No matter who or how, ultimately the person in question will understand that you’re trying to look out for their best interests. If you need to show them proof, you can start by showing them the list above.

Once you’ve identified the problem, support is key. See below for options of support organisations that can help.

Where to go?

As an Affiliate and Partner, it is essential that you can direct your audience to different support systems if they need help. Below are some of our recommended ones.

Gambling Therapy (www.gamblingtherapy.org) offers online support to anyone addicted to gambling and those who show problematic gambling behaviour. They offer a global service and support that is available in multiple languages. The Gambling Therapy app is free to download on iOS and Android.

Gamcare (www.gamcare.org.uk) operates a national telephone and online helplines for anyone affected by a gambling problem.

Gamblers Anonymous (www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk) is a support group for people who wish to do something about their gambling problem and help others do the same through attending meetings.

Dunlewey Addiction Services (www.dunlewey.net) provides counselling, mentoring, education, and support to individuals directly or indirectly affected by gabling problems.

Samaritans (www.samaritans.org) when life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. Whoever you are and whatever your facing, they wont judge you or tell you what to do. They are here to listen.

Blocking Gambling sites

Although Paddy Power offers options for self-exclusion and taking a break, here are some external sites that can also help assist your customers if they wish to block access to gambling sites and in store betting.

Gamban.com is an independent organization who make an app that blocks access to all sites and apps, across your phone, tablet and computer.

Gamstop.co.uk is another facility that lets you restrict your gambling activities across multiple UK gambling websites. You just upload your info to their site, and they’ll pass it on to the betting and gaming companies.

Self-exclusion.co.uk lets you restrict your betting in multiple betting shops – usually the ones near where you work or live. It works by uploading a photo, that is passed on to the shops in your area, who then intervene if one of the staff recognise an individual who has self-excluded.

Debt and Financial Advice

Often, gambling can lead to problems with unpaid loans or debt, which can mean there’s an urge to gamble to pay off these. So, it is important as an Affiliate and Partner to be able to educate your customers on different organisation that are them to help them when addressing their debt.

www.nationaldebtline.org offers free and confidential advice on how to deal with debt problems.

www.mymoneysteps.org was developed by Debtline, it offers free and personalised solutions to help you deal with your debts.

www.moneyadviceservices.org.uk/en helps people manage their money. They do this through their free and impartial advice service. They are an independent service, set up by the government.

www.mabs.ie is a free, independent, non-judgemental and confidential service for people who are in debt or at risk for getting into debt. Mabs will work with you to determine the type of support you need.

Protecting Minors

As an Affiliate and Partners its important to be able to share tips on how to ensure that minors are protected against gambling. We provide certain restrictions such as age verification checks on every single account, to confirm that our customers are 18 or older, and legally old enough to gamble. If we are unable to confirm a customer’s age through electronic checks, we suspend the account and request a proof of age documentation.

However, we know kids can often use their parents’ phones, tablets and laptops, and that you might still be logged in to a and as a result, gaming companies and parents must work together to protect children from underage gaming.

Here are some tips that you can share to help you customers protect their children.

  • Keep your username, password and deposit details out of reach. Like, not written down on a post-it stuck to your laptop.
  • Don’t save passwords or use auto-fill on your computer.
  • If there are kids around, always log out of your Paddy Power account.
  • Install website blocking software, such as NetNanny, which allows you to control and block access to gambling websites both on PC and mobile.
  • Educate your kids about the legality and potential damage of underage gambling.
  • Limit the amount of time your children spend online.
  • Familiarise yourself with the build in parental tools on your Mobile/Tablet/PC/TV devices

If you have any questions on any of the above processes and tools, please reach out to a member of our team.