Responsible Gambling in Canada

Gambling is entertainment you pay for. It is not income and it is not a route back from a loss. If it has stopped feeling like entertainment, this is the most useful page on this site.

Free confidential help

the country. your provincial health website.

• ConnexOntario — 1-866-531-2600. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day.
• Gamblers Anonymous and Gambling Therapy run free groups online and in person across
• Every province funds its own problem-gambling service, most with a 24-hour line, listed on

Signs worth taking seriously

• Staking more than you decided to, or more than losing would let you shrug at.
• Increasing a deposit to chase a loss back.
• Borrowing, selling or hiding things in order to keep playing.
• Being less than honest with people close to you about how much or how often.
• Playing to escape stress or a low mood rather than for enjoyment.
• Feeling relief rather than enjoyment when a session ends.

Tools that actually work. Licensed operators must offer deposit limits, loss limits, session reminders, cooling-off periods and permanent self-exclusion. Set them the day you open the account, while you are calm, and treat them as fixed afterwards. A limit you can lift on the spot is not a limit.

Ontario players can use the province's central self-exclusion for regulated operators. Offshore sites sit outside that scheme, which is one more reason to set limits inside every account you hold.

If it is someone else's gambling that worries you, the lines above support family members too. You do not need the gambler's permission to call.