Responsible Gambling

Gambling is entertainment that costs money. For most people that is where it stays. For some it does not, and the difference is worth being able to recognise early.

Warning signs worth taking seriously. Betting more than you decided to. Returning to win back what you lost. Gambling with money set aside for something else. Hiding how much you play, or lying about it. Feeling restless or irritable when you try to stop. Borrowing to fund play. Playing to escape stress rather than for enjoyment. Any one of these is worth pausing over; several together are worth acting on.

Free confidential help, not connected to this site or to any operator. The National Problem Gambling Helpline is available 24 hours a day on 1-800-GAMBLER, by text to 800GAM, and by chat through the National Council on Problem Gambling. Gamblers Anonymous runs free in-person and online meetings across the United States. Gam-Anon supports family members, which matters because the people around a gambler are affected too and often have nowhere to take it.

Tools that work, at the operator. Every casino listed on this site offers deposit limits, loss limits, session time limits, cooling-off periods and self-exclusion. Deposit limits are the most effective of these because they act before a decision rather than after it, and they take about a minute to set. Self-exclusion locks an account for a fixed period and cannot be reversed on request during it, which is the entire point of it.

Tools that work, on your own devices. Blocking software such as Gamban, GamBlock and BetBlocker restricts access to gambling sites across your devices; BetBlocker is free. Your bank may also be able to block gambling transactions on your card, and many now do this on request.

Practical habits. Decide the amount before you start and treat it as spent. Do not gamble to recover a loss; the loss has already happened and chasing it is what turns a bad session into a bad month. Keep gambling money separate from money with a job to do. Take the winnings out rather than letting a balance sit and be re-staked. And never gamble to solve a financial problem, because the arithmetic runs against you and always has.

Under 21 must not gamble. Operators listed here are required to verify age and identity and will refuse a payout where they cannot.

If you are reading this because you are worried about yourself or someone else, calling the helpline is a reasonable thing to do and it is free.