Rules that lower the risk
- Set an alarm: tiredness blunts your judgement of risk.
- Do not gamble with borrowed or credit money.
- Do not play when you are low, or after drinking.
Self-limitation tools
A casino licensed in Great Britain must offer deposit limits, a time-out and self-exclusion. Setting them takes a minute and applies at once. GamStop (gamstop.co.uk) is free and blocks every UK-licensed gambling site in one step. Lifting self-exclusion early is not possible, and that is the whole idea.
Where to get help
You pay nothing for help, and you need not give your name. The National Gambling Helpline answers 24 hours a day on 0808 8020 133 in England and Scotland, where GamCare runs it, and on 0808 2819 265 in Wales. GambleAware lists local support at gambleaware.org; the old begambleaware.org address opens the same site. What you tell a specialist stays there and is not passed on.
