Responsible play: know the cost before you rip

Card rip apps are built to take in more than they give back. Here is how much, how to cap it, and how to lock yourself out.

By Alexander Korsager · Checked 6 October 2026 · We earn nothing from any app on this site

My limit for one session$100

Packs: 20
Sold back for: $95
Expected cost: $5

Lastpack Starter Pack (Steady) at $5, on its published odds and sell-back rate. An average, not a prediction.

Hold yourself to it

Set your limit with the slider above. The expected cost is an average from published terms, not a prediction of your session.

1Set the number firstDecide what the session can cost before you open the app. Use the tool above.

2Deposit only thatPay in the limit and nothing more. Remove saved cards if topping up is too easy.

3Treat sell-backs as moneyA sold-back card is cash you already lost once. Withdraw it; do not re-rip it.

4Stop at the limitWhen the deposit is gone the session is over, whatever the last pack held.

The tool uses one pack at one app as its example: $5 a pack, at its published odds. The same sum for other packs is in the pack simulator.

Which apps let you lock yourself out

From each app's public pages. Tap a poster, then a figure for its source.

Publish a self-exclusion tool4 of 27Lastpack, Rips by Triumph, BOXED.GG, Underdog Rips

State a minimum age27 of 27Every one that states it says 18

Lastpack No commission

Read the Lastpack review

Self-exclusion tool: Yes
Read on the operator's own page
“You can set self-exclusions in Settings → Responsible Purchasing.”
Limits can also be set. “Self-exclusion cannot be cancelled once started.” The setting is inside an account and was not seen.
Checked 6 Oct 2026.
Open the source
You can set self-exclusions in Settings → Responsible Purchasing.
Minimum age: 18+
Read on the operator's own page
“you are at least eighteen (18) years old”
Checked 6 Oct 2026.
Open the source

An example: locking yourself out of Rips by Triumph

How to turn it on

Its help page says to open Settings, choose “Responsible Gaming”, and pick a week, a month, a year or permanently. Help page

The catch in its terms

Exclusion stops deposits. Unless you ask for a full purchase restriction, the terms say you “may continue to use existing account balances”. Withdraw first, or ask support for the full block. Terms

“Not published” means we found no tool on the pages we read, not that none exists inside the app. A spending limit is listed only where an app's help page describes one. Without an in-app block, your bank or card app may let you block a merchant.

Signs that spending has become a problem

Tick any that sound like you.

I spend more on packs than I decided to before I opened the app.
I buy more packs to win back what the last ones lost.
I sell cards back and put the balance straight into more packs.
I hide how much I spend from people close to me.
I have used money meant for rent, bills or food.
I have borrowed money or used credit to keep ripping.
I feel restless or irritable when I try to stop.
Ripping has stopped being fun and I still do it.

Ticked0 of 8Tick any that sound like you. Nothing you tick is saved or sent anywhere.This is a prompt to think, not a diagnosis.

Free help in the United States

Each detail below was read on the organisation's own site on 6 October 2026.

National Council on Problem Gambling

National Problem Gambling Helpline

1-800-MY-RESET

Call or text 1-800-697-3738, or use the chat on its site.

ncpgambling.org/help-treatment

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

988

Call or text 988, any hour of any day. Its site says conversations are free and confidential.

988lifeline.org

Peer support meetings

Gamblers Anonymous

Find a meeting

Its site has a meeting finder and a list of US hotlines. We print no number here: look up the one for your area.

gamblersanonymous.org/find-a-meeting

For family and friends

Gam-Anon

Meeting directory

For people affected by someone else's spending. Its site lists US and virtual meetings.

gam-anon.org/meeting-directory

These services are built around gambling. Whether card ripping is gambling in law is unsettled, but the pattern of chasing losses is the same. We have no relationship with any of them.

Age and minors

18+

27 of 27 apps state a minimum age in the pages we read, and each sets it at 18; Beezie and DOPA admit younger users with a parent’s permission. This site is written for adults. If a child has spent money in one of these apps, contact the app and your card issuer.