Responsible Gambling

Free help, any hour

ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600. Free, confidential, available at any hour, and open to family and friends as well as the person gambling. No referral needed. Outside Ontario, every province operates an equivalent problem gambling helpline.

Signs worth acting on

Gambling with money set aside for something else. Increasing stakes to recover a loss. Hiding the size of deposits. Restlessness when you cannot play. Borrowing to fund a deposit. One of these can be circumstance; several together is a reason to stop and talk to someone outside the activity.

Tools worth setting first

Every operator here is obliged to offer deposit limits, session limits, cooling-off periods and self-exclusion. A deposit limit set before the first deposit works best, because raising it generally requires a waiting period — and that delay is the most useful thing about it.

Why this sits high on the page

This site earns money when someone opens a casino account. That is a sufficient reason for the help information to be as easy to find as the bonus information, rather than in small print at the bottom. Gambling can be addictive and no promotion changes that.