Keeping the boat steady

Why a free wharf asks for 18+

A social casino borrows its colour, its clatter and its tempo from real gambling, which is why Creasewater Wharf is intended solely for adults over the legal gambling age and is aimed at nobody under 18. Ottoline asks your age on two separate occasions: first on the banner at the head of the towpath, and again with a tick when you take a mooring tag.

What the wharf will never do

• Offer gambling for money, or advertise it.
• Award prizes carrying real-world value.
• Sell coins, or bring in-app purchases to the wharf.
• Point you towards a gambling operator or anyone paid to refer you to one.
• Lean on countdowns or streaks to bring you back.

A fair warning from the towpath

A free game may be tuned to seem generous, and it refills your purse at no charge. A real-money game does neither. Doing well on the wharf indicates nothing about how you might fare with money at stake.

Ripples worth noticing

• Playing on well past the time you had in mind.
• Feeling short-tempered once you have stopped.
• Turning to the reels as an escape from a mood.
• It is eating into sleep, work or the time you give other people.
• You catch yourself looking about for a version played with real money.

A steady hand on the tiller

• Settle how long the session will last before the first race.
• Do without autoplay altogether.
• Moor up for a break at regular intervals.
• Clearing this site’s data resets everything; to stop entirely, block the site in your device settings.

Free UK help, from shore to shore

Worried about a child using this site? Write to [email protected] and we will help you block it.