Gambling addiction: where to get help

Published 21 October 2026 · 6 min read

By Loutra · Sources (18)

There is no amount at which it starts to "count"

When you ask yourself the question, you have usually already added up what you have lost, and you are looking for the number that would say whether it is serious. There is none. The World Health Organization describes gambling disorder with three requirements: "impaired control over gambling"; "increasing priority given to gambling, taking precedence over other life interests and daily activities"; and "continuation of gambling despite negative consequences". None of them is an amount, a frequency, or even withdrawal. It is the criterion this blog already applies to screens in the article on screen time: loss of control, never a number.

France's public gambling helpline describes the moment it tips over in one sentence: the hope of winning "turns into the hope of winning it back". Gambling becomes a way to recover what has been lost.

Most people never tell anyone

The WHO estimates that 1.2% of the world's adult population has a gambling disorder. How many ask for help? A 2022 meta-analysis pooled the representative surveys that measured it, all from Australia, New Zealand and North America.

The exact figure is 20.6% (95% CI 12.9-31.4), and it counts broadly: any deliberate step to change, from a professional to a friend to self-help. The authors flag a high risk of bias and questions worded differently from one survey to the next. The WHO gives the reason most often cited: "Stigma and shame often prevent people from seeking help." So what follows is, first of all, a list of places where nobody will ask you to justify yourself.

What the NHS says, exactly

"Gambling can harm many areas of your life," its page opens — relationships, physical and mental health, finances. It offers nine questions, including this one: "Have you tried to win back money you have lost (chasing losses)?" None of them asks how much you bet.

Its first answer is specialist care: "You can go to a specialist gambling treatment clinic in England," staffed by "a team of psychiatrists and psychologists" who can also "support your family or friends if they need help". No referral is needed: "You can self-refer to a gambling clinic near you. Or you can ask a GP for information on services in your area." The list opens with the National Centre for Behavioural Addictions and the National Problem Gambling Clinic, followed by regional NHS services from the North to the South West.

The phone line it gives is the National Gambling Helpline, run by GamCare: "call 0808 8020 133 for free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for free information, support and counselling". Gamblers Anonymous is listed as "a local support group service that uses the 12-step approach to recovery", and GamAnon holds meetings for the people around someone who gambles.

In the US, one number routes you to your state

The National Problem Gambling Helpline, operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling, is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738). It "offers call, text and chat services 24/7/365", covers all 50 states and the US territories, and calls are routed by area code to a local contact centre. What it can offer depends on where you are, but includes "referrals to local or national organizations, therapists, counselors or support groups that specialize in treating gambling addiction", financial counselling, and support for families. No payment or insurance information is required.

Blocking yourself closes a lot, not everything

The NHS's practical list starts with blocks. GamStop "stops you being able to use gambling websites and apps for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years", and the scheme describes itself as "free, quick, and easy". Then: "ask your bank to block any money going to gambling websites and apps", and install blocking software on your devices. Pay "important bills, such as your mortgage, on payday before you gamble". And: "do not view gambling as a way to make money."

Each tool has an edge. GamStop's online scheme covers websites and apps; betting shops have a separate scheme, Gamstop Betting Shops. In the US, self-exclusion depends on the state: the helpline offers "guidance on how to self-exclude from gambling establishments or online gambling sites, if available in your area". France, for comparison, runs a single national ban through its regulator, for three years minimum, and its public helpline is blunt about what such measures can do: they only help "insofar as you yourself play along".

Treatment: what has been tested

On what therapy is worth, the Cochrane review led by Sean Cowlishaw (14 trials, 1,245 participants) found that cognitive behavioural therapy reduces gambling and its symptoms right after treatment, with effects ranging from medium to very large. But only one study measured what happened at 9 to 12 months, and its effects were smaller and not significant: "the durability of therapeutic gain is unknown", and "the current data may thus reflect overestimates of treatment efficacy". The WHO names long-term CBT and motivational interviewing as the most effective approaches today; "self-help, pharmacological interventions and mutual support have less evidence of efficacy, although the latter are among the most used interventions".

When debt and mood give way together

France's helpline describes a last phase, one of despair, "marked by a very significant depressive state". It is not a figure of speech. In Sweden, a register study followed 2,099 people diagnosed in specialist services between 2005 and 2016: their suicide mortality was 15 times that of the general population, and depression predicted it. These were people unwell enough to be in treatment, not all gamblers. But it is why these numbers belong here: in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123, free from any phone, "any time, day or night"; in the US, 988, by call, text or chat, "available 24/7/365". The gambling helpline says it "is not a crisis hotline designed for emergency services" and points to 911 or 988.

For debt, the NHS's advice is to "deal with your debts rather than ignoring them – visit the National Debtline for help".

If you gamble again

The French public helpline is clear: going back to gambling "is part of the treatment process", it should be seen "as a step and not as a final failure", and "the fact that you managed not to gamble for a while proves that you are capable of stopping". It is the position this blog takes in the article on relapse.

Loutra counts the days from the date you set, asks for one check-in a day and keeps your whole history when you gamble again. It closes no website, blocks no payment, and replaces neither an NHS clinic, nor a helpline, nor GamStop.

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