SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

We love bingo, it’s game with entertainment at it’s heart and the bigno communities in the clubs and halls around the UK and the world are wonderful places full of friendships on fun.

However, bingo is a form of gambling and for some people it may become a habit that they cannot control.  When your gambling stops being entertainment and starts to become a problem for you socially or financially then it is important to either re-take control, or stop completely.

Here is Mr Bingo’s  guide to some of the Social Responsibility features that you should find on the websites that you choose to gamble with.  The Gambling Commission in the UK mandate many Social Responsibilty features that must be available on sites registered in Great Britain via their Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and Remote Technical Standards (RTS) requirements. Other jurisdictions have similar requirements and we urge you to investigate what is available to help you.

LIMITS

Every site should allow you to set limits on your spending either in the form of deposit limits or wager limits.  You may also have access to loss limits and session limits.  Normally, you will be invited to set these limits either when you register or when you first go to fund your player account.

PLEASE set limits! Even if you think you are in control of your gambling it is much better to decide how much you want to spend before you take part and then use the limit features to help you stick to them.

REALITY CHECK

It’s not just financial limits that you need to be aware of, you also want to keep an eye on how much time you are spending gambling.  Look out for the reality check setting that will allow you to get alerts at specific intervals so that you can keep a track of time.

TIME OUT

Sometimes it is just best to take a break.  You may wish to do that if you are starting to feel like you are spending too much time or money gambling or if you want to have a break whilst you deal with another financial commitment such as saving for a holiday.

The Time Out facility will allow you to take a break for a number of weeks and, once it is set, you will not be able to access your account with that website.  At the end of the time period, your account will automatically become active again.

SELF EXCLUSION

Sometimes the only way to control your gambling is to stop completely.  This can be done by requesting a Self Exclusion – most sites will allow you to do this via an online form or a setting within you player account and without needing to talk to anyone althogh you can also request it via email, phone or live support if the website offers those contact methods.

A Self Exclusion can be requested for between 6 months and 5 year and will become active immediately – you will not be able to access your player account during the exclusion period and the website that you have excluded from will not be able to lift the exclusion during this time.

At the end of the exclusion period your account will remain locked unless you take positive action to re-enable your account.  That action varies from site to site.

Warning! Self Eclusing from one website will not stop you from accessing another!  Mr Bingo strongly recommends that you use the GamStop service for national exclusion if you are a citizen of Great Britain.

GAMSTOP

GamStop offers a national exclusion service which is now mandated by the Gambling Commission in the UK and applies to all of it’s licences.  The service is available to any resident of Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

The service is free and very simple to use.  One short form to complete online and the exclusion will become active immediately across all participating websites.