ShieldBet Terms and Conditions

1. Who we are

ShieldBet is operated by ShieldBet Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Throughout these Terms, "ShieldBet", "we", "our", and "us" refer to ShieldBet Ltd.

If you need to contact us, please email: hello@shieldbet.co.uk

2. By using ShieldBet

By creating an account, installing ShieldBet, starting a trial, purchasing a subscription, or using any ShieldBet service, you confirm that:

• You accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy
• You are at least 18 years old
• You are legally capable of entering into a binding agreement
• The information you provide is accurate and belongs to you

3. What ShieldBet is

ShieldBet is a gambling protection and accountability tool. It combines blocking technology, intervention systems, integrity monitoring, and trusted partner accountability to help reduce access to gambling-related services and make impulsive removal harder. Adding a trusted partner is your choice; users without one use solo protection instead, with the core protection and anti-bypass safeguards still in place.

ShieldBet is designed to reduce access, add friction, and support accountability. It cannot guarantee that gambling access, gambling behaviour, relapse risk, financial harm, or emotional distress will be prevented.

ShieldBet is not:

• A medical service
• A therapy or counselling service
• A financial advice service
• A crisis intervention service
• An emergency support system
• A guarantee against relapse risk or gambling harm

4. Trusted partner system

ShieldBet includes an optional trusted partner system. A trusted partner is usually a family member, friend, sponsor, or other person the user trusts to support their accountability.

A trusted partner is strongly recommended, but not mandatory. Users without a trusted partner may use ShieldBet in Solo Protection mode, which still includes blocking, intervention systems, integrity monitoring, recovery safeguards, and anti-bypass protections.

By entering a partner's details, you confirm that:

• You have that person's permission to provide their information
• You understand they may receive accountability notifications
• You understand some recovery or protection actions may require their involvement

The trusted partner role is not active until the partner accepts the invitation.

Trusted partners are not employees, agents, counsellors, clinicians, or representatives of ShieldBet. We are not responsible for disputes, relationship issues, emotional harm, or personal outcomes arising from the trusted partner relationship.

ShieldBet may restrict, suspend, or remove trusted partner functionality where we reasonably believe the system is being used abusively, fraudulently, coercively, or in a way that creates safeguarding concerns.

5. Accountability notifications

ShieldBet uses different notification behaviour depending on whether the user has enabled Solo Protection or Partner Accountability. In Solo Protection mode, ShieldBet may send repeated-attempt check-in emails directly to the user. In Partner Accountability mode, ShieldBet may send accountability notifications to an accepted trusted partner.

These notifications may include:

• Repeated blocked gambling attempts
• Sensitive account-change activity
• Recovery or verification events
• Protection disablement attempts
• Removal or tamper alerts
• Subscription cancellation while protection is active

Not every event triggers a notification. Thresholds, rules, and notification behaviour may change over time. Delivery timing cannot be guaranteed.

6. Blocking and protection behaviour

ShieldBet may block websites, domains, applications, routes, pages, or content that appears related to gambling. Blocking decisions may use:

• Hard blocklists
• Hard safe lists
• Path-level checks
• Page evidence and content signals
• Behavioural indicators
• Classification systems and supporting models
• Policy decision logic

ShieldBet does not guarantee perfect blocking accuracy. Some legitimate content may occasionally be blocked incorrectly, and some gambling-related content may not always be detected.

7. Recovery friction and anti-circumvention

Some ShieldBet features are intentionally designed to make impulsive disablement harder. ShieldBet does not provide a normal instant unlock, disable, or logout flow for active protection. Depending on your configuration and protection mode, certain actions may require:

• Trusted partner approval, where Partner Accountability is active
• Recovery flows
• Time delays or cooldown periods
• Verification steps

These features are a deliberate part of the product design and exist to support accountability, recovery safeguards, and protection integrity.

You agree not to intentionally bypass, interfere with, reverse engineer, disable, tamper with, or undermine ShieldBet protection systems.

8. Companion app and integrity monitoring

ShieldBet may use companion extensions, mobile components, or integrity-monitoring systems to help determine whether protection appears installed and active.

These systems are designed to monitor protection integrity only. They are not intended to act as spyware, keyloggers, or full browsing surveillance tools.

9. Subscriptions, billing and cancellation

ShieldBet is a subscription service. Pricing, trial periods, billing intervals, and subscription details are shown during signup or checkout.

Payments are processed securely through Stripe. We do not store full card details.

Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled before the next billing date.

You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or by contacting hello@shieldbet.co.uk. Cancellation stops future renewals but does not normally refund billing periods that have already started, unless required by law.

What happens to protection when you cancel: Cancelling your subscription does not immediately remove protection. Protection may remain active until the end of the current billing period. This is intentional: cancellation during a period of vulnerability is a recognised risk moment, and ShieldBet treats it accordingly. Your trusted partner will receive a notification if you cancel while protection is active.

What happens to your data when you cancel: Your account and associated data are retained for a reasonable period after cancellation in case you return or need to raise a support or billing query. You can request deletion of your account data by emailing hello@shieldbet.co.uk. Deletion requests are subject to the conditions set out in our Privacy Policy, including the safeguarding and retention requirements described there.

10. Uninstallation and account closure

ShieldBet is designed to create friction between users and gambling-related content. Part of that friction involves making protection intentionally difficult to remove impulsively.

This applies to both Solo Protection and Partner Accountability modes. The absence of a trusted partner does not automatically remove safeguarding controls, recovery safeguards, or anti-bypass measures.

By activating ShieldBet, you understand and accept that certain protection features may remain active until the end of your subscription period, cooldown period, or configured recovery process.

Depending on the platform, configuration, and protection settings enabled, removal or disablement may require:

• Trusted partner approval
• Recovery verification
• Security checks
• Cooldown periods or timed delays
• Manual review processes

These measures are a deliberate part of the ShieldBet safeguarding model and are designed to reduce impulsive removal, relapse risk, and attempts to bypass protection during periods of vulnerability.

Cancelling a subscription does not necessarily result in immediate removal of protection. In some situations, protection may remain active until the current billing or protection period has ended.

If there is a genuine safety, access, safeguarding, or technical issue, contact hello@shieldbet.co.uk. We will review the situation and explain what options are available. Support requests are reviewed carefully, but they cannot be used as a simple bypass route for active protection.

We may decline immediate removal requests where immediate removal would undermine the safeguarding purpose of active protection, create security concerns, or conflict with active accountability safeguards.

If you believe you no longer require ShieldBet, we still strongly recommend maintaining multiple layers of protection, including self-exclusion tools, gambling transaction blocks through your bank, and ongoing support services where appropriate.

11. Service availability

We do not guarantee that ShieldBet will always be available, uninterrupted, error-free, or compatible with every device, browser, operating system, or third-party service.

We may modify, suspend, update, remove, or discontinue features where necessary for operational, technical, legal, security, or commercial reasons.

12. Acceptable use

You must not:

• Use ShieldBet unlawfully or fraudulently
• Provide false partner information
• Harass, abuse, threaten, or manipulate trusted partners
• Attempt to bypass or undermine protection systems
• Reverse engineer or exploit ShieldBet systems
• Interfere with service security or infrastructure

13. Intellectual property

ShieldBet, including its software, branding, designs, systems, content, models, and related materials, is owned by ShieldBet Ltd or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws.

14. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, death, or personal injury caused by negligence.

Subject to the limits of applicable law, ShieldBet cannot accept responsibility for outcomes outside the reasonable operation of the service, including:

• Gambling losses
• Relapse risk or continued gambling behaviour
• Emotional distress
• Relationship disputes
• False positives or missed gambling content
• Missed or delayed notifications
• Temporary outages or compatibility issues
• Losses caused by third-party platforms, browsers, app stores, or operating systems

15. Privacy and data protection

Your use of ShieldBet is also governed by our Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy explains how we process user data, trusted partner data, accountability information, and protection-related activity.

16. Suspension and termination

We may suspend, restrict, or terminate accounts where necessary for security, fraud prevention, safeguarding, abuse prevention, legal compliance, or operational reasons.

17. Business continuity and transfers

If ShieldBet is involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of assets, your data may be transferred to the new entity as part of that transaction. We will notify you by email if this happens and your data is to be handled materially differently from what is described in our Privacy Policy. You will have the option to delete your account if you do not wish your data to be transferred.

If ShieldBet ceases operating, we will give reasonable notice to active subscribers and provide a means to export or delete account data before the service closes.

18. Crisis support

ShieldBet is not an emergency or crisis response service. If you are in immediate danger or believe you may harm yourself or someone else, contact emergency services immediately.

19. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes relating to these Terms or the use of ShieldBet will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.