Limits, time-outs and self-exclusion inside the account
This page is about procedure rather than motivation. Anyone who has already decided to apply a brake wants three concrete answers: when the request takes effect, what happens to the money sitting in the account, and what gets lost along the way. That is where we start. The Portuguese national register, which works on a different plane and covers different operators, comes at the end, and the wider framing is under responsible gambling.
When each request bites
| Request | Immediate? | When it applies | How it ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowering a deposit limit | Yes | On confirmation | Only via a new request to raise it |
| Raising a deposit limit | No | After a cooling-off period | Cancellable while the wait runs |
| Loss limit | Yes, for the current period | On confirmation | Renews with the next period |
| Session limit | Yes | From the next session | Adjustable at any time |
| Time-out | Yes | On confirmation | Expires on its own; cannot be lifted on request |
| Operator-level self-exclusion | Yes | On confirmation | Not reversible on request |
The asymmetry between tightening and loosening is deliberate design, not a system flaw. Tightening is instant because the decision is made clearly; loosening waits because the decision to loosen tends to be made in a different state of mind. Nobody has to wait to protect themselves; everybody waits to unprotect themselves.
What happens to the money
- Real balance. It still belongs to the account holder and is normally returned by transfer to the registered IBAN, even after the account has been closed. A time-out usually keeps withdrawals available throughout its duration.
- Bonus balance and rollover progress. Both expire. Active bonuses, free spins and the volume already staked towards wagering vanish with the closure and are not restored when an account reopens. Anyone mid-promotion should price that loss in before confirming.
- Requests already submitted. A withdrawal filed before the brake runs its normal course, including the document review if that is still open. What that stage involves is described under withdrawals.
What stays on file, and why
A self-exclusion request does not erase an account. The operator is required to retain identification data and transaction history for the periods set by anti-money-laundering law, and it is precisely that retention which later allows a second account opened on the same document to be recognised and refused. Deleting everything would make self-exclusion unenforceable.
Two practical consequences follow. First, asking for personal data to be erased and asking for self-exclusion are different requests and partly incompatible, because data-protection rights yield to legal retention duties — the subject is handled under privacy. Second, marketing communication must stop immediately, and its continuation is by itself grounds for a complaint, with the route set out under complaints.
Choosing the right instrument
The scale is graduated and there is no merit in jumping to the end of it. A deposit limit is the tool when the problem is the amount going in. A loss limit is the tool when little goes in but a great deal circulates, because reinvested winnings never pass through the front door. A session limit addresses time rather than money. A time-out fits the case where playing has stopped being enjoyable but a permanent step feels excessive — and its usefulness lies exactly in the fact that it cannot be lifted on request, because support has no authority to cancel it. If it did, it would be a suggestion rather than a brake.
Operator-level self-exclusion is the heaviest item on the list: measured in months or years, it closes access rather than suspending it and does not unwind on request. Once the period ends, most operators do not reopen the account automatically; a deliberate act is required, frequently with another wait attached.
Reach: where this brake stops
Self-exclusion requested from one operator covers that operator and, where one exists, the group behind it. It does not extend across the rest of what is available online, and closing that gap is exactly why national registers exist.
In Portugal that register is the RAMJ, administered by the SRIJ. It is requested with a Cartão de Cidadão or the Chave Móvel Digital and covers, in a single action, the operators on the regulator's published list. Ezz is not on that list, because it runs on international licensing — so a RAMJ registration does not block access to this platform. A barrier that holds needs both planes plus a third layer underneath: the merchant-category block offered by several Portuguese banks, which acts before money leaves the bank account at all.
Before confirming
- Withdraw the available real balance, so no money is stranded in an account that is about to become inaccessible.
- Check for promotions in progress and accept that rollover progress will be lost.
- Save the confirmation of the request, with its date and time — that record settles any later dispute.
- Clear saved sessions in the browser and on the phone, so the closure does not rely solely on the operator's side.
- Set up the bank block and the device block the same day. On their own, account tools cover one account.
Anyone needing support beyond these tools can reach the Linha Vida on 1414 and SICAD in Portugal, both free and confidential, with the references gathered under responsible gambling.