Responsible gaming

Grave Robber, the instant win game by Pixmove, is entertainment that costs money. It is not an income, not a strategy and not a way out of a financial problem. This page explains why the maths guarantees that, how to spot when play has stopped being fun, and where to get help.

The house edge is permanent

Pixmove publishes an RTP of 95% for Grave Robber. Over a very large number of rounds the game is designed to return about 95 units for every 100 staked. The remaining 5% is the cost of playing — the price of the entertainment, in the same way a cinema ticket has a price.

That 5% does not switch off. It does not care whether you are winning or losing, whether you pick EASY or HARD, or how disciplined your cash-out point is. Choosing a difficulty changes how the same 95% is distributed — small frequent wins on EASY, rare large ones on HARD — but it does not change the total. The strategy page can help you lose less quickly by avoiding obviously bad decisions. Nothing on this site can make a 95% game return more than 95%.

The ONE LAST GAMBLE double-or-nothing at the end of a round is the sharpest version of the same point. It is a coin flip on money you have already won. It does not improve your position; it just makes the outcome louder.

Rules worth setting before you start

• Decide the loss first. Pick an amount you would be content to spend on an evening's entertainment and never exceed it. If losing it would affect a bill, a rent payment or a debt, it is too much.
• Never chase. Increasing the stake to win back a loss is the single most reliable way to turn a small loss into a large one.
• Never borrow to play — not from a card, an overdraft, a credit line or a person.
• Don't play impaired or upset. Alcohol, exhaustion, boredom and stress all degrade the one skill this game actually asks for: stopping.
• Set a clock, not just a budget. Autoplay at 500 or 1000 rounds gets through an enormous amount of turnover in a very short time.
• Treat winnings as won. Money returned to the game is money staked again.

Warning signs

Problem gambling is not defined by how much someone stakes. It is defined by the role the gambling has taken in their life. These are the patterns worth taking seriously, in yourself or someone close to you.

If several of those are familiar, that is worth acting on now rather than after the next session. It is a common problem with well-established support, and it responds to help.

Tools that actually work

Every licensed operator is required to provide player-protection controls. They are usually filed under “Responsible Gambling” or “Limits” in your account settings. Set them while you are calm; they are much harder to set mid-session.

• Deposit limits — a daily, weekly or monthly ceiling on what you can pay in. Reductions normally apply immediately; increases are held for a cooling-off period on purpose.
• Loss and stake limits — a cap on net loss or on the size of a single bet, which bites even if you never top up.
• Session time limits and reality checks — a periodic on-screen prompt telling you how long you have been playing and where you stand.
• Cooling-off / time-out — a short lock on your account, typically 24 hours to several weeks. Useful for breaking a chase.
• Self-exclusion — a longer, binding block, usually six months or more, which cannot be reversed on request during the term. Multi-operator schemes exist in many jurisdictions and cover every licensed site at once.
• Blocking software and bank controls — app or browser-level blockers, plus the gambling-transaction block that many banks now offer on their cards.

If you want to understand the game without risking money, the free demo plays identically with no real balance attached. It is also where all the measured data on this site came from — see how we test.

Age restrictions

Gambling is restricted to adults. The minimum legal age is 18 in most jurisdictions and 21 in some, and online gambling is prohibited outright in others. It is your responsibility to know the law where you are. This site is intended for adults of legal gambling age and is not directed at children.

Where to get help

These organisations are independent of this site and of any operator. Support is free and confidential, and it is available to friends and family as well as to players. We link to the organisations rather than quoting helpline numbers, because numbers change and the wrong one is worse than none.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services rather than a gambling helpline.