How cookies behave on the pages of our BetWest guide
- A cookie is a small text file a site stores in the browser and reads back on the next visit.
- First-party cookies come from the site being visited; third-party cookies come from other domains in the page.
- They remember state: a preference, a session, a choice already made.
- They run only in the browser, and clearing them resets whatever they stored.
- Our guide sets a handful of first-party types and no account data of any kind.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Where the controls sit
Every mainstream browser keeps its cookie controls in the settings panel: Chrome lists them under privacy and security, Safari under privacy, Firefox under privacy and security, and Edge under cookies and site permissions. From there a reader can block third-party cookies outright, clear everything already stored, or allow cookies and delete them per site.
What blocking costs
Blocking or clearing cookies on our guide costs nothing that matters: the pages read the same, the tables and figures stay in place, and the only losses are small conveniences such as a preference remembered between visits. A reader who clears everything regularly can still follow every guide from the homepage to the payments page without a break in the text.
Third-party cookies
Third-party cookies belong to domains other than ours, set when their code loads inside a page. Where a page carries commercial links, the destination site may set its own cookies once the reader crosses over, and those follow the destination’s own policy. Blocking third-party cookies in the browser settings removes that category entirely while leaving first-party preferences untouched.
What a cookie actually does
A preference cookie is why a guide opens where a reader left it, an analytics cookie is why the most-read pages get reworked first, and an affiliate cookie is how a commercial link reports that it was followed, in aggregate and without personal detail:
- None of the types on our guide identify a reader by name or e-mail.
- The guide holds no reader accounts, so nothing ties a cookie to a person.
- Cookies set by another site never appear in the types below.
- The browser’s own list is the authoritative view of what is stored at any moment, and it is the first place our team checks when a reader reports that a page looks stuck.
The types we set
| Type | What it does | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | keeps the pages working and remembers basic choices | session |
| Analytics | counts visits and page reads in aggregate | up to 12 months |
| Preference | recalls how the reader moved through the guides | session to a few weeks |
| Affiliate | records that a commercial link was followed, without personal detail | up to 30 days |
Last updated: 5 November 2026