Slate Stats › Responsible Gambling
Responsible Gambling
This site publishes betting research, so it carries the obligation that comes with that.
If you need help now
Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Confidential, free, available 24 hours. Text 800GAM or chat at 1800gamblerchat.org.
In the UK, GamCare is on 0808 8020 133. Elsewhere, search for your national problem-gambling helpline.
If you are in crisis, in the US call or text 988.
Age and jurisdiction
Sports betting is legal only in some places and restricted by age — 21 or older in most US states, 18 in a few. It is illegal in others.
Knowing the rules where you are is your responsibility, and nothing on this site should be read as saying betting is legal or advisable where you live.
What our numbers honestly are
We think a reader is owed the limits of the research, not just its conclusions.
A projection is an estimate with error. Our receptions model beats a naive baseline by about 2.6% out of sample. That is a real improvement and it is nowhere near certainty.
We lose to a commercial provider at baseline projection on every market we have tested, and we say so.
An edge we cannot verify is not presented as one. When the model disagrees with the market by an implausible amount we treat that as evidence of our own bug and suppress it, because chasing exactly that disagreement has found three real bugs so far.
No system beats a sportsbook reliably. Books hold roughly 7% on the markets we track. Most people who bet lose money over time, and nothing here changes that.
Signs worth taking seriously
Betting more than you can comfortably lose. Chasing losses. Borrowing to bet. Hiding it. Betting to escape rather than for fun. Trying to stop and finding you cannot.
Any of these is a reason to call 1-800-GAMBLER, not a reason to read another projection.
Tools that work
Most licensed sportsbooks offer deposit limits, time limits, cool-off periods and self-exclusion. Many states run a self-exclusion register that covers every licensed operator at once.
Blocking software such as Gamban or GamBlock can remove access entirely.