A time out from gambling is a short term break. Of course you can do this offline via self-discipline, but if you gambling online you can actually set one up for yourself on your favourite online betting site.

And once you’ve activated your time out, you won’t be able to deposit or place bets of any kind on your account.

A time out from gambling is really for everyone. And we mean everyone. If you gamble from time to time or fairly frequently, this is for you.

It helps you structure your time and be more intentional when you gamble. So you play when you want to play and you don’t play when you don’t intend to. It removes temptation and helps to give you a little more discipline around your gambling.

Of course, the exact parameters on how to do this will change depending on where you play. But as a rule of thumb, here’s what you need to do:

• Log in to your account
• Go to the Responsible Gambling section
• Select Time Out
• Then choose how long you want to take a time out for

This will also vary a little depending on where you play, but typically you can choose to take a time out from between 24 hours and 30 days.

There’s also the option to set up a custom time out, which we absolutely love. That means you can set it to start/end at a particular time. Perfect if you don’t want to gamble during the weekdays but want a little flutter sesh at the weekend.

If you have a few things on the boil when you take your time out from gambling, there’s no need to stress. Your bets will still be honoured and settled as normal. So if you win, your winnings will be added to your account.

Speaking of funds in your account, if you want to withdraw during your time out, that’s no problem at all. You can do that any time you want.

You can’t reverse a time out from gambling online. You just have to wait it out. If you could reverse it, it wouldn’t be a very good break from gambling, would it?

The short answer is no. Even if you can take short breaks from gambling, you might still be at risk of developing an addiction.

Having said that, time outs can help you set more healthy boundaries. It’s good to be responsible, but it’s also good to be aware that this isn’t a guaranteed prevention.

So be aware of the signs of gambling addiction, stick to your gambling budget and stop gambling altogether if you think you might be developing an unhealthy relationship with gambling.

Of course if you’re a gambling addict, you shouldn’t be gambling. But a short term time out from gambling isn’t really the right solution for you.

Instead, if you’ve got a gambling problem, you should take a longer term approach and self-exclude from gambling. With self-exclusion, you can choose to stop for several months, years or indefinitely. If you have a problem, we would always encourage you to stop forever.

And it shouldn’t end there. Get the support you need to stop gambling and recover from your addiction. There are organisations worldwide that can help:

• UK: Be Gamble Aware website or phone line (0808 8020 133)
• USA: National Council on Problem Gambling website or phone line (1800 522 4700)
• Australia: Gambling Help Online website or phone line (1800 858 858)
• New Zealand: Gambling Helpline website or phone line (0800 654 655)