Bet Playground is a simulated sports betting app built around a single idea: that people who already gamble — or are tempted to — should have a risk-free place to scratch the itch. Our long-term goal is to help users gamble less in the real world, not more anywhere. These guidelines cover the social and shared parts of the App (usernames, team names, group bets, leaderboards, friends, support tickets) so that the community supports that goal rather than working against it.
Treat this as the alternative, not a gateway. The whole product is designed so the only thing you risk is your time. Don't use it to glamorise, advertise, or recruit other users into real-money gambling.
Use a real account. One person, one account. Multiple accounts to inflate leaderboards, avoid bans, or cheese Fantasy leagues are not allowed.
Be civil to other users. The App has friends, group bets, and leaderboards. Treat the people in them the way you'd want to be treated.
Use your own identity, not someone else's. Don't impersonate real people, public figures, or other Bet Playground users.
What is not allowed
The following behaviours violate these guidelines and may result in a warning, suspension, or permanent ban depending on severity. The list isn't exhaustive — we'll act on anything that genuinely undermines the community even if we haven't explicitly named it here.
Identity and account abuse
Creating multiple accounts (sock puppets) to manipulate leaderboards, Fantasy leagues, group bets, or to evade a previous ban.
Sharing your account with someone else, or using someone else's account.
Impersonating another person — real or fictional — in your username, team name, league name, or anywhere else displayed to other users.
Registering accounts on behalf of children under 17.
Display strings (usernames, team names, group names, proposal titles)
All of these are passed through an automated profanity filter. The following are not allowed even when the filter doesn't catch them:
Slurs, hate speech, sexual content, threats, or doxxing.
Names designed to harass a specific person (real or another user).
Names that pretend to be official Bet Playground staff or a betting operator (e.g. "Bet Playground Support", "Bet365 Official").
Soliciting or advertising real-money bets on the platform — in usernames, group bet titles, support tickets, or any free-text field.
Linking to or promoting real-money sportsbooks, casinos, or affiliate programs.
Offering to convert virtual currency to real money, or claiming you can. You can't — the platform has no mechanism for it — and anyone promising this is running a scam.
Encouraging another user to gamble for real money based on what they're doing in the App.
Leaderboard, FBL, and group-bet integrity
Coordinating with other accounts (yours or friends') to inflate Fantasy or global leaderboard rankings.
Manipulating group bet votes or proposals to disadvantage another group member.
Using bots or scripts to place bets, harvest odds, or scrape match data.
Submitting bets you intend to never settle (kicking off a bet just to game some unrelated metric).
Harassment and abuse
Targeted harassment, bullying, or threats against another user — via group-bet proposal text, support tickets, or anywhere else.
Sending unwanted messages or repeated friend requests after the recipient has declined.
Sharing private information about another user without consent.
Platform abuse
Trying to access another user's account, data, or wallet.
Probing for security vulnerabilities outside of a coordinated responsible-disclosure context (see "Security research" below).
Spamming the support ticket system, friend-request flow, or group-creation flow to evade rate limits.
Submitting deliberately fake support tickets, harassing the support team, or using support tickets for purposes other than support.
Off-platform conduct
We generally don't police what users do off the platform, but if you use Bet Playground identifiers (your username, FBL team name, group name) to harass another Bet Playground user elsewhere — on social media, messaging apps, or in person — we will treat that the same as on-platform harassment.
Responsible-gambling controls — please use them
Even though there's no real money in the App, the patterns of gambling are real, and rehearsing those patterns can normalise them. The App ships with controls designed to help you stay in charge of your own behaviour:
Daily deposit limit — cap how much Virtual Balance you can top up in a single day.
Daily and weekly loss limits — pause new bets once you've lost a set amount.
Self-exclusion — block your own account from logging in for 7 to 365 days.
Cool-down prompts — automatic suggestions to take a break after losing streaks.
Session timer — soft prompt after 30 minutes of continuous use.
Find them in Profile → Responsible Gambling. Setting them is a sign of strength, not weakness. We will never make it harder to tighten a limit.
If you are gambling for real money outside the App and finding it hard to stop, please contact one of these free, confidential services:
If you believe you've found a security vulnerability in the App, the website, or the backend, please report it via support and mark the ticket category "Security". Do not publicly disclose the vulnerability, do not access another user's data, and do not run automated tooling against the production backend. We aim to respond to security reports within 72 hours.
Enforcement
We use a graduated response based on severity, intent, and history.
Severity
Typical action
First-time minor (e.g. profane username caught after registration)
Display string changed; user notified via support reply
Repeat or moderate (multi-accounting, leaderboard cheesing)
Severe (harassment, threats, real-money-conversion scams, ban evasion)
Permanent ban; data retained per the Privacy Policy retention rules
Bans are applied at the account level via our admin tooling and recorded in our append-only audit log. Banned accounts cannot log in. If you believe a ban was issued in error, you can appeal by emailing complaints@betplayground.co.uk with your account email.
We reserve the right to remove content, restrict access, or terminate accounts at our discretion when behaviour materially undermines the community or the harm-reduction mission of the product.
Reporting another user
If you see behaviour that violates these guidelines:
Open the in-app Help & Support screen.
File a ticket with category Report a user (or the closest equivalent).
Include the offending username and a brief description.
We review reports within 48 hours. Reporters are not identified to the reported user.
Changes to these guidelines
We may revise these guidelines as the community grows or new behaviours emerge. Material changes will be flagged in the App's "What's New" screen on update. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised guidelines.