Responsible play

Maximum stake. A ceiling on any single bet. Checked at the moment a bet is placed, so a slip over the limit is refused rather than trimmed.

Daily loss cap.Once the day's stakes less returns reach this figure, no further bets are accepted until midnight. An open bet counts against the cap until it settles — that is deliberate, because the point of the cap is to stop a session, not to let one continue on paper.

Set either from your account. Leave a field empty for no limit.

There is no deposit limit here, because there are no deposits. Stakepoint has no cashier: your balance is credit issued to the account, and it cannot be topped up by you, cashed out, or moved anywhere else. So the usual first line of defence — capping what you can put in — does not exist, and the two limits above are doing the whole job instead. Set them.

Watch the clock, not just the balance. In-play betting moves in seconds and an hour of it does not feel like an hour. Decide before you start how long you are staying, and put the time you started somewhere you will see it.

Read your statement, not your last bet. Every movement is on your account, in order, with the balance after each one. The last result is a bad summary of a session; the column of figures is an accurate one. Look at the whole day, not the most recent line.

Nothing here has been won until it settles. There is no cash-out on this platform. A bet that is winning at half time is not money, and treating it as a bankroll to bet against is the quickest way to end a session worse than it was going.

Six questions. Answer them for the last three months, not for today.

1. Have you bet more than you could comfortably afford to lose?
2. Have you needed to bet larger amounts to get the same interest out of it?
3. Have you gone back to win money you had lost?
4. Have you borrowed, sold anything, or used money meant for something else?
5. Have you felt you might have a problem, whether or not you said so?
6. Have you been criticised for your betting, or told anyone it was less than it was?

One yes is worth a limit on your account today. Two or more is worth talking to somebody independent of us — a free, confidential helpline, or your doctor. This is a prompt to think, not a diagnosis; the people on those lines do this properly and it costs nothing to call.

• Betting more than you decided to before you started.
• Betting to win back what you have lost.
• Borrowing, or using money meant for something else.
• Hiding how much you bet, or how often.
• Betting to feel better rather than for entertainment.

Ask us to close your account to you for a fixed period and we will. While it is closed you cannot sign in, and the block cannot be lifted early — that is the whole point of it. Email [email protected] with the period you want.

If gambling has stopped being a choice, talk to somebody independent of us. In most countries there is a free, confidential helpline; search for the one where you live, or ask your doctor.