Playing safely

The starting point

Every game in every catalogue keeps a share of the stakes on average. That is not a property of one particular house but the arithmetical basis of the whole business. Play with that knowledge and you stake an amount whose loss is already budgeted for — like an evening at the cinema, only dearer.

Ceilings that live in the account

A deposit ceiling, a loss ceiling, a session clock and an account break sit in almost every account under «responsible play». They only work if they are set before the first round — how that is done and what to watch for.

1. Work the amount out from the monthWhat is left after everything else is paid — and a part of that.
2. Do not leave out the session clockIn fast games it does more than any stake ceiling.
3. Never raise it while playingA ceiling raised during a session was not one.
4. Use the break when it feels wrongThe account break is set in most accounts with a few clicks.

Warning signs

• Playing in order to win back what was lost.
• Ceilings being raised regularly.
• The playing being hidden from family or friends.
• Money earmarked for something else ending up in the playing account.
• The thought of the next session being constantly present outside it.

If one of those applies, it is no cause for shame and no special case. It is a reason to talk to somebody who knows the ground — and in Switzerland that is possible free of charge and in confidence.

Why pace and stake belong in the same calculation

The figure an evening costs is not the stake per round but the stake times the number of rounds. One franc sounds like little; in a fast game with several hundred rounds an hour it is a three-figure sum. That is exactly why a session clock bites harder than any stake ceiling in fast games, and exactly why the automation many games offer is the setting to think longest about: it removes the only natural pause a game has — the moment you press the button yourself.

A second point concerns the balance. Winnings left in the account are quickly treated like play money rather than like money. Withdrawing after a win rather than playing on says nothing about your luck and everything about your bookkeeping. The check that may fall due in doing so stands in the terms of the house in question — in the ranking with a clause number at every entry.

Help in Switzerland

Specialist services advise throughout Switzerland, in German, French and Italian, free of charge and anonymously on request — for those affected and for their families alike. The reference stands in the footer of every page on this site. If you would rather change something on your own first: an account break takes effect immediately and cannot be undone immediately.

What this site does about it

A comparison that points readers at playing sites has an influence on how somebody enters this subject. Four decisions on this site follow from that. First: no manufactured urgency — no countdown clocks, no «today only» notes, no counters pretending to show other visitors reading along. Second: no bonus without a deposit, because such offers carry the harshest conditions and are most often promoted without them. Third: no systems, strategies or predictions for any game, because they do not exist and selling them lives off somebody hoping otherwise. Fourth: no figures for withdrawal times, because nobody here has measured one.

On top of that comes a habit that looks less like a stance and does more: every page on this site states what was not checked. Knowing where the limits of a piece of information lie leads to different decisions from those made by somebody a comparison has played completeness to.

Common questions