Our approach
Betting on racing is entertainment. It costs money, like any other leisure activity, and the money staked should be money you can afford to lose. Nothing on this site is designed to make you bet more, bet faster or chase what you have lost: prices and returns are shown before you confirm, the clock and the off times are always visible, and every tool on this page is free and takes effect without asking us.
You must be 18 or over to open an account. We verify age and identity, and we do not accept customers we cannot verify. We do not target our marketing at people under 18 or at people who have told us they want to stop, and we send no marketing at all to customers in time-out or self-exclusion.
If at any point you feel that betting is no longer fun, the tools below are there to slow things down or stop them altogether. Using them has no effect on your standing with us.
Deposit limits
A deposit limit caps how much you can pay into your account over a day, a week or a month. You can set one, two or all three. The limit is checked at the moment you deposit: an amount that would take you over it is refused and the form tells you how much of the limit remains.
- A lower limit applies at once. Reduce it whenever you like; there is no waiting period.
- An increase takes effect after 7 days. The old limit stays in force in the meantime, and you can cancel the increase at any time before it applies. This is deliberate: a limit that could be raised on impulse would not be a limit.
- Limits count deposits only. Winnings left in the balance are not counted, and stakes are not limited separately.
We recommend setting a limit before your first bet, while the number is a calm decision rather than a reaction to a run of results. Decide what betting is worth to you as entertainment for a month, and set the monthly limit to that. Set it in Responsible Gambling in your account.
Keeping track
Knowing where you stand is the simplest safeguard. Your account keeps the full picture:
- Transaction History lists every deposit, withdrawal, stake, return and refund with a date and a status. Adding up a month's deposits takes a minute and is the truest measure of what betting has cost.
- My Bets shows every bet you have placed: open bets waiting for a result, and settled bets with the actual return — Won, Lost or Void. It is easy to remember the winners and forget the rest; the list remembers both.
- The header of every page shows your balance, and the site shows a live clock and the off time of every race. Virtual racing runs a race every three minutes around the clock, which makes it easy to lose track of time — glance at the clock, and decide in advance how long a session will last.
A useful habit: before you deposit, look at Transaction History for the month so far. If the figure surprises you, that is the moment to set or lower a limit.
Time-out
A time-out is a short break from betting. Choose a period — 24 hours, 48 hours, 7 days, 30 days or 6 weeks — and for that time betting and deposits are paused. You can still log in to withdraw money, read your history and contact support.
A time-out starts as soon as you confirm it and cannot be shortened once set. When it ends, the account returns to normal without any action from you; nothing is changed or lost. If you find you want a longer break when the time-out ends, set another one, or consider self-exclusion.
Time-outs are useful after a bad day, before a busy period, or simply to see whether a week without betting feels like a relief. Start one in Responsible Gambling.
Self-exclusion
Self-exclusion closes your access to the site for a long period: 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. It is for when you have decided that you want to stop, not just pause. During self-exclusion:
- You are logged out immediately and cannot log in or place a bet for the whole period.
- All marketing from us stops, and we will not contact you to invite you back.
- Any balance in the account is returned to you after our usual checks, to a payment method in your name.
- The exclusion cannot be undone or shortened, by you or by us, before it expires.
- Opening a new account to get round an exclusion is a breach of the Terms; any such account is closed when found and bets on it are void.
When the period ends, access is not restored automatically. You need to contact us, and we will ask you to wait a further 24 hours before the account is reopened, so that returning is a considered decision.
Self-exclusion here covers this site only. To exclude yourself from every online gambling operator licensed in Great Britain in one step, register with GAMSTOP — see GAMSTOP below. Many people do both.
Self-exclude from this site Register with GAMSTOP
Closing your account
You can close your account permanently at any time from Responsible Gambling. Closure is different from self-exclusion: it is a decision to stop using the site rather than a protective measure, but the effect is similar — you are logged out, cannot log in, and receive no further marketing. Open bets are settled normally and any balance is returned to you after our checks.
Closure is permanent. We keep the records we are required to keep by law and by our licence, as described in the Privacy Policy, and then delete them. If you close an account because gambling has become a problem, tell us so when you close it; we will treat the closure as a self-exclusion and will not reopen the account if asked later.
GAMSTOP
GAMSTOP is a free, independent self-exclusion scheme. When you register, every online gambling operator licensed in Great Britain — including this site — must check your details against the GAMSTOP register and refuse you an account or a login for the period you choose: six months, one year or five years. A single registration covers all of them, and it cannot be cancelled early.
Registering takes a few minutes and needs your name, date of birth, address and email. We check every registration and every login against GAMSTOP, so if you are registered you will not be able to use this site even if you already have an account. GAMSTOP is run independently of us and of any other operator. The link opens in a new tab.
Signs of a problem
Gambling becomes a problem gradually, and the person concerned is often the last to see it. These are common signs. None of them alone means much; several together are worth taking seriously.
- Betting more than you planned, or increasing stakes to feel the same interest.
- Betting to win back money you have lost.
- Borrowing money, selling things or using money set aside for bills to bet.
- Hiding how much you bet, or lying about it to people close to you.
- Betting to escape worry, low mood or boredom, rather than for the racing.
- Feeling restless or irritable when you try to cut down or stop.
- Losing track of time — sessions running for hours, or late into the night.
- Neglecting work, study, family or sleep because of betting.
- Thinking about betting most of the time, or planning the next bet while doing something else.
- Trying to stop before and not managing to.
If you recognise yourself here, a deposit limit or a time-out is a good first step, and a call to one of the helplines below costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Independent help
These services are free, confidential and independent of us. You do not need to have a diagnosed problem to call; they talk to anyone worried about their own gambling or someone else's.
- 0808 8020 133National Gambling Helpline · England and Scotland24/7, free from UK phones
- 0808 2819 265Gambling Helpline · Wales24/7, free from UK phones
- GamCare — runs the National Gambling Helpline and offers online chat, forums and free treatment across Great Britain.
- BeGambleAware — information, self-assessment tools and a directory of local support.
- Gamblers Anonymous UK — peer-support meetings, in person and online, for people who want to stop gambling.
- NHS problem-gambling services — specialist clinics you can refer yourself to; your GP can also refer you.
Software that blocks gambling sites and apps on your devices — Gamban and Gamblock are two examples — adds a practical barrier alongside self-exclusion. Some are free to UK residents through the services above.
Family and friends
Gambling problems affect the people around the gambler too. If you are worried about someone else's betting, the helplines above will talk to you as well; GamCare and BeGambleAware both have advice written specifically for family members and friends, and Gamblers Anonymous has a linked fellowship for relatives.
We cannot discuss another person's account with you without their consent. If you believe a customer of ours is at risk, you can still write to support@irishracingraceclubs.com: we will not confirm whether they hold an account, but we will act on what you tell us where our licence allows.
Protecting under-18s
It is illegal for anyone under 18 to gamble, and an offence for us to let them. Every new account goes through age and identity verification before the first withdrawal, and earlier where a check is triggered; an account that cannot be verified is closed and any winnings are withheld. Any account found to belong to someone under 18 is closed at once, and all bets on it are void.
If you share a computer, tablet or phone with someone under 18:
- Log out of your account when you have finished, and do not let the browser save your password.
- Keep your payment details and documents where children cannot find them.
- Consider parental-control or filtering software — Net Nanny and Gamban are examples — which can block gambling sites on a shared device.
- Talk about gambling honestly: what it costs, that it is for adults, and that it is not a way to make money.
If you believe someone under 18 has used this site, tell us at support@irishracingraceclubs.com. We will investigate and close the account if it is confirmed.