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Standards

Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS)

Remote gambling and software technical standards under section 89 and section 97 of the Gambling Act 2005.

RTS 12 – Financial limits

Applies to:

All gambling - except subscription lotteries

RTS aim 12

To provide customers with facilities that may assist them in sticking to their personal budgets for gambling with the operator. Customers must be also be given the option to set financial limits at an account level.

RTS requirement 12A

The gambling system must provide easily accessible facilities that make it possible for customers to impose their own financial limits. Customers must be given the opportunity to set a limit as part of the registration process (or at the point at which the customer makes the first deposit or payment).

RTS implementation guidance 12A

  1. For telephone gambling (except lotteries), customers should be asked if they would like to set a deposit or spend limit when they register. Customers should be able to request a limit at any point after registration. The limit should be implemented as soon as practicable after the customer’s request. The customer should be informed when the limit will come into force.
  2. For other access media (including internet, interactive TV and mobile), customers should be offered the opportunity to select a deposit/spend limit from a list which may contain a ‘no limit’ option or to enter a limit of their choice as part of the registration or first deposit process. The ‘no limit’ option should not be the default option.
  3. Limits could be in the form of:
    1. deposit limits: where the amount a customer deposits into their account is limited over a particular duration
    2. spend limits: where the amount a customer spends on gambling (or specific gambling products) is restricted for a given period – this type of limit may be appropriate where the customer does not hold a deposit account with the operator
    3. loss limits: where the amount lost (that is, winnings subtracted from the amount spent) is restricted (for instance when a customer makes a £10 bet and wins £8, the loss is £2).
  4. The period/duration of the limits on offer should include:
    1. 24 hours and
    2. 7 days and
    3. one month
  5. In addition:
    1. limits may be implemented per customer, per account, or other means
    2. limits could also be implemented across all products or channels or for individual products or channels. Where limits are also set across separate products it should be clear to customers using the facility that a limit will need to be set for each individuals product. For example, where a limit has been set for a specific game a customer should not be misled into assuming that the limit automatically applies to other products.
    3. financial limit facilities should be provided via a link on the homepage
    4. facilities should be available on deposit pages/screens or via a link on these pages or screens
    5. where a customer sets simultaneous time frames, for example a daily deposit limit and a weekly limit, the lowest limit should always apply. Therefore if a daily deposit limit of £10 and a weekly limit of £100 are both set then the maximum the system should allow to be deposited is £10 per day and £70 per week.

    RTS requirement 12B

    All reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that customer-led limits are only increased at the customer’s request, only after a cooling-off period of 24 hours has elapsed and only once the customer has taken positive action at the end of the cooling off period to confirm their request.

    RTS implementation guidance 12B

    Where possible (for instance, unless systems/technical failures prevent it) limit reductions are to be implemented within 24 hours of the request being received. In addition, at the point at which the customer requests a decrease in their limit, they should be informed when the limit reduction will take effect.

    Previous section
    RTS 11 – Limiting collusion and cheating
    Next section
    RTS 13 – Time requirements and reality checks
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