Responsible Online Gambling USA

• Gambling should be fun & entertaining but can become addictive.
• Sportsbooks & casinos have a number of tools to help you to keep control.

This article will explain in a little more detail the tools available and how they work. We look at the top betting sites to check what they have available too.

As you can see from the table below, the top Sportsbooks all provide the listed tools. You will find all sportsbooks offer these basic, yet comprehensive options within your account management portal.

Use the links in the table below to visit the responsible gambling policy of each sportsbook. you may have to select your state for local versions when you land.

Bookie	Responsible Gambling Policies
BetMGM	BetMGM Responsible Gambling Policy
BetRivers	BetRivers Responsible Gambling Policy
BetAmerica	BetAmerica Responsible Gambling Policy
Unibet	Unibet Responsible Gambling Policy
PointsBet	PointsBet Responsible Gambling Policy
William Hill	William Hill Responsible Gambling Policy
Caesars	Caesars Responsible Gambling Policy
bet365	bet365 Responsible Gambling Policy
Borgata Sports	Borgata Responsible Gambling
SugarHouse	SugarHouse Responsible Gambling Policy

Select a Bullet Point Below to Skip to More Info

• Deposit Limits
• Time Management
• How to use your Bet History
• Self Evaluation
• Self Exclusion

Some sportsbooks have additional tools that differ from the basic options above [click an option to skip to the section]. Bet365, for example, offers a Budget Calculator. This is a tool that allows you to enter your personal finance budget, and it will quickly do the sums and let you know how much you can comfortably afford to wager.

You will find both in our articles and advice from the OLBG members the importance of having a separate bankroll for betting activity. This would include maximizing how much you can comfortably afford to bet in a given time frame.

Using your online betting site's deposit limit function can help you manage this. But what is a sportsbook deposit limit?

A deposit limit with an online betting site is a function that allows you to set for yourself an amount and a period of time, which maximizes the total value of funds you can deposit into your betting account over a given period of time. Usually monthly, daily, and weekly limits can also be set. 

• Hourly
• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly

You will have the option to choose a monetary amount of your choice, and then a frequency value as above. 

Once the limit is reached, you will be prevented from depositing any further funds without the deposit limit being amended.

Can I change a deposit limit?

If you reach your weekly/monthly deposit limit you will find it quite easy to change it to a higher amount. However, expect to be prevented from any change being made to be active immediately. 

An absolute minimum of 24 hours will be required to reconfirm the change you want to make, providing a cooling-off period to think again if you want to increase your limits. 

In some cases, especially if you have a monthly frequency on your deposit limit, you may have to wait until the end of the calendar month or a duration of 30 days from the instance in which you set up the limit in the first place.

A frequent and necessary feature when playing at casino sites is a notification of how long you have been playing.

This will be automatically triggered regardless of whether you set a specific time for yourself or not.

You can set your own times within the account management sections.

You will be able to extend the time from the default 60 minutes often found, to a shorter period, or longer periods depending on your preferences.

The importance of keeping records of your betting activity has been discussed and written about on the pages of the OLBG forum since 2002.

It is key to keeping track of your betting profit and losses.

Thankfully, online betting sites offer a full record of every deposit, withdrawal, and bet made in your account. This historical account of your activity can be found in the account management area.

We would suggest making yourself as familiar as possible with this section and in particular, keeping track of deposits and withdrawals to ensure you know how much you are spending regularly.

Some sportsbooks like BetMGM and BetAmerica provide profit and loss screens which you can adjust to different time periods to help you keep track.

Self Evaluation is basically a number of steps you can take if you are concerned about your betting activity and perhaps identify if you have a bigger gambling problem than you think you have.

Self Evaluation is a set of simple steps and questions that you have to answer honestly.

The results are then analyzed or looked at to decide for yourself if you are gambling within your means and control or if you would benefit by seeking professional help to control or even stop your gambling activity.

Questions that help with Self-Evaluation

• How often do you gamble?
• Do you sometimes gamble when you haven't planned to?
• How do you feel when you lose?
• Have you ever put off seeing family or friends to gamble instead?
• Do you keep how much you have lost from family or friends, or have you lied?
• Do you find yourself chasing losses?
• Why do you gamble?

If you have any concerns about your gambling activity, we recommend you think through these questions and seek professional help, and/or undertake self-exclusion as detailed below

Self-exclusion options are available with every sportsbook [required by law], whereby you can close your account and ask to be prevented from being able to open a new account.

In some cases, this will be for a given amount of time, between 1-5 years, and in some cases, if you self-exclude from a sportsbook, it will be for life, with no chance of ever reversing the request.

Sportsbooks have an obligation to not allow you to reopen an account you have closed for self-exclusion reasons.

You may also find that if you self-exclude from one sportsbook, it may affect your opportunity to open an account with another brand of sportsbooks if they are part of the same group of companies.

If self-exclusion from a single sportsbook just means you take your betting activity to another, then you may have a problem.

Indeed, if you have self-excluded and find yourself opening another account, we would recommend continuing to read further down this guide where you will be able to get some more in-depth help and support from professional organizations.

KYC & Proof of Income

The most recent developments have seen things like KYC [Know Your Customer] and Proof of Income processes integrated into sportsbook/customer relationships.

Reduction in VIP Player Schemes

Many of the bigger betting brands are removing VIP Schemes and limiting or removing all use of VIP in association with their customers.

Usually, VIP status is reserved for the larger staking players. With the lure of additional benefits, exclusive offers and dedicated account managers based on the level at which a layer would spend, it is plain to see, this activity is not conducive to controlled and sensible gambling.

For this reason, whilst rewards clubs and VIP status is not expressly outlawed, most of the big firms are moving away from such schemes and terminology and being pro-active in responsible gambling terms.

Credit Cards Banned for Depositing

Credit cards are not an ideal method of funding your betting account or using it for gambling purposes. Using money you don't even have to gamble is the epitome of irresponsibility.

Unfortunately, many online sportsbooks do allow credit cards as a method for funding betting apps to make wagers, although some banks in some states will refuse to allow these transactions to go through.

Across Europe the use of credit cards with gambling products has been outlawed in 2020, we would hope that the same should be in place in the US soon.