Responsible Gambling

If you need someone now

The National Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and open 24 hours a day on 0808 8020 133. It's run byGamCare, which also runs a live chat. You don't need to be in crisis to call, and you don't need a diagnosis or a speech prepared.

The tools you're entitled to

These aren't favours. Every casino with a UK licence must offer them, and using them can't be made difficult or take days to apply.

• Deposit limits — daily, weekly or monthly. Lowering one takes effect immediately; raising it has to wait, deliberately. Set this on day one, before it matters.
• Reality checks — a pop-up at an interval you choose, telling you how long you've been playing and what you're up or down. Sessions distort time; this is the fix.
• Time-outs — lock yourself out for 24 hours up to six weeks. Useful when you want a break rather than an ending.
• Self-exclusion — six months minimum at that operator, and they must close your account and stop marketing to you.

GamStop: the one that covers everything

GamStop is free, takes a few minutes, and blocks you from every gambling site licensed in Great Britain at once — for six months, one year or five years. Every site on this page is covered by it.

Sites that advertise themselves as being outside GamStop are outside UK regulation entirely. That means no UK complaints route, no obligation to protect your money and no requirement to honour a self-exclusion. We don't list them and we won't name them.

Signs worth taking seriously

Not a diagnosis — just the patterns people describe afterwards, most often: chasing losses; gambling with money meant for something else; hiding it; borrowing to play; feeling you have to play to fix things; and it stopping being fun but not stopping.

Where else to go

• GamCare — helpline, live chat, free treatment and support groups.
• BeGambleAware — advice, self-assessment and routes into free treatment.
• Gamblers Anonymous UK — peer support groups, in person and online.
• GamFam — support for family and friends, who often need it too.
• Your bank — most UK banks can block gambling transactions on your card, and that block can be made slow to remove.

Gambling should be entertainment you can afford to lose. If it's become anything else, the number at the top of this page is the right place to start.