Responsible Gambling
Gambling is meant to be entertainment, not a way to make money or to escape. This page is about keeping it that way: how to set your own rules, the signs it has stopped being fun, and the free, confidential help you can reach across Canada at any hour.
Free, confidential help for gambling, mental health and substance use. Open 24/7.
Alberta Health Services runs a 24/7 line, plus the AGLC GameSense info line.
If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, reach a responder any time, anywhere in Canada.
Set your own rules before you play
The house always holds a mathematical edge. Over enough hands and spins it wins, and no betting system, hot streak or “due” number changes that. So the only way to stay in control is to decide the limits yourself, in advance:
- Pick a budget you can comfortably lose, and stop when it is gone.
- Set a time limit, and treat it as firmly as the money limit.
- Count losses as the cost of the entertainment, never as something you have to win back.
- Never gamble with money meant for rent, bills, food or debt.
- Don’t gamble to cope with stress or sadness, and don’t play while drinking. Both make it harder to stop.
Warning signs it has stopped being fun
If a few of these sound familiar, it is worth talking to someone. The lines above are free, confidential, and used to exactly this.
- Spending more money or time than you planned.
- Chasing losses, betting bigger to win it back.
- Borrowing money or selling things to keep gambling.
- Lying to people about how much you gamble.
- Gambling to escape stress, boredom or a low mood.
- Trying to cut back and not being able to.
The tools every licensed casino must give you
On a regulated Ontario or Alberta site these controls are built in, by law, and they are free to use. Set them before you need them, not after:
- Deposit and loss limits, set per day, week or month.
- Time-outs, a short cooling-off break that locks you out for a set period.
- Reality checks, on-screen reminders of how long you have been playing.
- An activity log, so you can see what you actually deposited and wagered.
- Self-exclusion, covered below.
Self-exclusion: one switch, every site
Self-exclusion shuts you out of regulated play across the board, not just one casino:
- Ontario. iGaming Ontario’s BetGuard blocks you across every licensed operator and OLG at once, for periods up to five years.
- Alberta. The AGLC runs province-wide self-exclusion at selfexclusion.ca, from six months to three years, covering PlayAlberta and the new regulated operators.
Age comes first
Online casino play is for adults only: 19 and over in Ontario, 18 and over in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. We don’t cover, recommend or link to anything aimed at anyone under the legal age.
One last thing
We are an independent review site, not a treatment service. If gambling is causing harm to you or someone close to you, the help lines at the top of this page are staffed by people who do exactly this, for free, and you do not have to wait until it feels like a crisis to call.