no app links on this page
Take a break
An app in your pocket is the hardest kind to walk away from
Someone to talk to, free, any hour
- 1-866-531-2600 ConnexOntario Ontario
- 1-866-332-2322 Alberta Health Services addiction helpline Alberta
- 1-888-795-6111 BC Gambling Support Line British Columbia
- 1-800-461-0140 Jeu : aide et référence Quebec
- 1-800-463-1554 Manitoba addictions helpline Manitoba
- 988 Crisis Services Canada Canada-wide
These are independent services. No operator pays for them and none of them pay us. This page has no tracking on it and no link that earns anything.
This whole site is about making gambling apps easier to use. That cuts both ways and this is where we say so.
A website you have to sit down and open is not the same thing as something four centimetres from your hand that buzzes during a game. The second one is much harder to put down. It is also the one we write about.
No apps linked here. No redirects either.
Phone-specific things that actually help
- Kill every notification the app offers, not just the promos
- Delete the app rather than logging out. Reinstalling and signing back in is friction, and friction is the whole point
- Screen Time on iOS and Digital Wellbeing on Android will hard-limit an app by name
- Gamban blocks at DNS level, so it covers the app and the browser together
- Take the card out of your phone wallet. Then a deposit needs the physical card
Things that block, rather than ask
Do this when you are not mid-session. Each one takes under two minutes, and all of them are harder to undo than to do, which is exactly the property you want at 1am.
One registration and every Ontario-registered app stops letting you in, along with OLG.ca and the physical casinos. About ten minutes, and you set the length.
Paid, and it blocks apps as well as sites, including ones you have not downloaded yet. That last part is why blocking them individually never sticks.
Run by a charity, free, no account. Tens of thousands of domains. Install and forget.
Every registered Canadian app has them buried in settings. Turning one down happens instantly. Turning it up waits a day.
One tap, and the account is shut for anything from a day to a month. Much lighter than a full exclusion and it works the same way for a weekend.
When it is a friend
You can call any of those numbers about somebody else. Most of their calls are that. You do not need their permission and you do not need a plan first.
The stuff that helps is boring and practical. Separate accounts, card out of the wallet, blocking installed on a quiet afternoon rather than during a bad night.
Asked at the hour people ask it
Where can I get free help with gambling in Canada?
The numbers at the top of this page are where to start. Crisis Services Canada takes 988 from anywhere in Canada, and the 5 provincial lines above it do the same job closer to home. All of them are free and confidential.
How do I exclude myself from every Ontario gambling site at once?
PlaySmart does it in one go. You register once and the Ontario-licensed apps stop letting you in, along with OLG.ca and the physical rooms, so there is nothing left to uninstall app by app. Registration runs about ten minutes and you set how long it lasts.
19+ in most provinces, 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. This is entertainment that costs money on average. If it stops being entertainment, the numbers up there are answered right now.