Play Responsibly

Once every few months, run yourself through the following short quiz. Am I gambling with money I have not yet earned this month, either on a credit card or against next week's paycheck? Have I chased a loss in the last thirty days by increasing my stake to make it back faster? Do I hide the total amount I have deposited from my partner, my flatmate or my parents? Do I feel a physical rise — heart rate, sweating, difficulty sleeping — either when I win or when I lose? Do I gamble alone, at night, more often than I used to? Two or more yes answers is a signal to review your limits; three or more is a signal to call a helpline before your next session.

No one under eighteen should ever have access to a gambling account, including a Novibet account. If a person under eighteen has already opened one, close it immediately: any winnings will be forfeited, deposits refunded and the account permanently blocked. On a shared device, install a supervised-user profile at the operating-system level, keep passwords and payment cards physically separate and never save Novibet's login details in a browser other minors can reach. A supervised-user profile is more effective than any single-purpose block because it covers every future gambling site you have not yet heard of, not only the ones on this list.

Three myths still do a disproportionate amount of damage. First, that a slot is 'due' after a losing streak — every spin is independent and the machine has no memory of what came before. Second, that a live dealer is somehow reading the table and you can 'feel' when a card will fall your way — the dealer is dealing from a genuinely shuffled shoe and the only person feeling anything is you. Third, that a bonus is 'free money' — bonuses are marketing spend with wagering attached, and the maths of wagering means that on average the house recovers most of the notional bonus value before you can withdraw.

Novibet's cashier includes four tools worth setting up before your first deposit rather than after your first bad session. A deposit limit caps the sum you can transfer in per day, per week or per month. A loss limit caps the net loss in the same windows and freezes further wagers once hit. A session limit forces a break after a set number of minutes of continuous play. A self-exclusion locks the account for a chosen period, typically one, three, six or twelve months, with no way to reopen it early. Set these limits at levels you consider embarrassingly conservative — that is exactly what they are for.

Blocking gambling sites at the router or device level is the single most effective step a parent can take. On the router, use OpenDNS Family Shield or Cloudflare's 1.1.1.3 service, both of which filter gambling categories by default. On an iPhone or iPad, enable Screen Time and switch on 'Limit Adult Websites' under Content Restrictions. On Android, install Google Family Link and add gambling terms to the blocked-sites list. On Windows and macOS, add a supervised child account and let the operating system enforce the filter. Do not rely on browser-level plugins alone: any teenager can install a fresh browser.

In New Zealand, the Gambling Helpline is free and confidential and available around the clock on 0800 654 655 or through gamblinghelpline.co.nz. Salvation Army Oasis runs face-to-face counselling in most cities and can be reached through salvationarmy.org.nz/oasis. The Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand covers group support, family counselling and asian-language services at pgf.nz. If someone is in immediate danger to themselves, ring 111 first and then call one of the helplines above once the immediate crisis is under control.

Watch for practical signals more than emotional ones. Overdraft fees appearing on your bank statement, credit card balances climbing without matching purchases, cash withdrawals in unusual round numbers, unexplained cancelled direct debits on essential bills. Watch for social signals: friends and family bringing it up, invitations declined because you would rather log in, sleep disrupted by gambling either directly or through worry about it the next morning. Watch for cognitive signals: intrusive replay of hands and spins, an inability to concentrate on work, a shortening of the emotional window between winning and needing to win again.