Responsible gambling

Gambling is entertainment that costs money. It is not income, it is not a way out of a hole, and any site telling you otherwise is selling something.

Signs worth taking seriously

• Betting more than you decided to, or more than you can comfortably lose.
• Chasing losses with bigger stakes to get back to even.
• Gambling to escape stress, boredom or low mood.
• Hiding how much you play, or lying about it.
• Borrowing money, selling things, or using bills to fund play.
• Play crowding out work, sleep, or people who matter to you.

Tools every licensed operator must give you

These are rights, not favours, and support is required to apply them without argument or delay.

• Deposit limits per day, week or month. Increases must carry a cooling-off period, decreases must apply immediately.
• Loss and session limits, capping what you can lose or how long you can play.
• Reality checks, periodic on-screen reminders of elapsed time and net position.
• Cool-off, a short break from a day up to several weeks.
• Self-exclusion, a long-term block. Once set it cannot be reversed on request during the term, and that is the point.

If an operator makes any of these hard to find, stalls the request, or markets to you after you set one, that is a serious failure and we want to hear about it. Tell us at player help and we will escalate it.

Where to get real help

If gambling has stopped being entertainment, help in Ontario is free, confidential and available at any hour. ConnexOntario answers on 1-866-531-2600, or you can text the word connex to 247247. The service runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 170 languages, and it connects you to treatment and counselling in your own community rather than simply taking a message.

ConnexOntario, 1-866-531-2600. Free, confidential, available around the clock.

You must be 19+ to gamble in Canada.