If gambling is hurting you or someone you love, you are not alone, and real help is free and close to hand. In the UK you can speak to a trained adviser today, get NHS treatment, and block gambling across your devices. This page sets out where to turn and how to take the first step.
If gambling is causing you harm, free and confidential help is available now. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or chat to GamCare (gamcare.org.uk). To block gambling sites across your devices, BetBlocker (betblocker.org) is free.
Start here: one call, any time of day
The National Gambling Helpline is the simplest first step. It is run by the charity GamCare, it is free, and according to GamCare it operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can call 0808 8020 133, use the live chat on gamcare.org.uk, or message by WhatsApp. The adviser will not judge you. They listen, talk through what is happening, and where it helps they refer you into local treatment.
You do not need to have hit a crisis to call. People reach out at every stage: the first worry that a habit is slipping, the morning after a heavy loss, or the moment a partner finds a hidden account. You can call about your own gambling or about someone else’s. Family members, partners and friends are welcome too, because gambling harm rarely stays with one person.
If picking up the phone feels like too much right now, the live chat lets you type instead of speak, which many people find easier the first time. There is no script you have to follow and no detail you are required to give. You can stay anonymous.
NHS gambling support and specialist clinics
The NHS treats gambling as a health condition, and treatment is free. The NHS runs specialist gambling clinics across England that offer talking therapies, structured support and help for the anxiety, debt stress and low mood that so often travel with gambling harm. There are clinics covering London, the north of England, the Midlands, the east, the south and the south west, with the network expanding in recent years according to NHS England.
You can usually refer yourself to an NHS gambling service without going through your GP first, though your GP can also refer you and can help with the wider picture, including your mental health. NHS England has confirmed that from April 2026 it took on commissioning responsibility for gambling-harm treatment in England, funded by the statutory levy on gambling operators, so this is a settled, funded part of the health service rather than a short-term pilot.
The NHS website (nhs.uk) has a dedicated page on help for problems with gambling, with links to the clinics and to self-help tools. If you are in Scotland or Wales, support is available through the wider National Gambling Support Network and your local NHS services, and the National Gambling Helpline can point you to the right door.
What kind of help can you actually get?
Help is not one thing. For some people a few sessions of structured talking therapy is enough to break the cycle. For others, treatment runs alongside debt advice, relationship support and care for depression or anxiety. Cognitive behavioural approaches, which look at the thoughts and triggers that lead to a bet, are widely used in gambling treatment.
Peer support matters too. Gamblers Anonymous runs free meetings around the country where you can sit with people who understand the pull of it from the inside, and GamAnon offers the same for affected family and friends. None of this requires money, a referral letter or a diagnosis. It requires only that you reach out once.
Our wider guide to gambling help and support in the UK walks through these options in more detail, including what to expect from a first appointment and how to support someone else without taking over their recovery.
Putting up a barrier: GAMSTOP and BetBlocker
Alongside talking to someone, it helps to make gambling harder to reach in the moment the urge hits. Two free tools do this in different ways.
GAMSTOP is the UK’s national online self-exclusion scheme. You register once at gamstop.co.uk with your name, date of birth and email, and every gambling website and app licensed by the UK Gambling Commission must then refuse you. You choose a minimum exclusion period of six months, one year or five years, and according to GAMSTOP it cannot be shortened once set, only extended. Registration takes only a few minutes. One important limit: GAMSTOP covers operators licensed in Great Britain, so it does not reach sites licensed offshore, the so-called non-GamStop casinos. That gap matters, and we return to it below.
BetBlocker fills part of that gap. It is a free app from a registered charity that blocks tens of thousands of gambling sites on your phone, tablet and computer, including many offshore sites that GAMSTOP does not cover. You set how long the block lasts, and according to BetBlocker it cannot be removed before that period ends, which is the point: it protects the calmer version of you from the version of you at 2am. You can install it from betblocker.org on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS and other devices.
Used together, GAMSTOP and BetBlocker close most of the easy routes back to a bet. Neither is a cure on its own, and neither replaces talking to someone, but they buy you the space in which recovery becomes possible.
How do I take the first step today?
The hardest part is usually the first move, so make it small. You could do one of these in the next ten minutes: call 0808 8020 133, or open the live chat at gamcare.org.uk; register at gamstop.co.uk; install BetBlocker from betblocker.org. Any one of them is a real step, and none commits you to anything beyond it.
If money is part of the fear, say so when you call. Advisers can point you to free, independent debt advice, and dealing with the debt and the gambling together tends to work better than tackling either alone. If you are worried about someone else, you can call on their behalf to understand the options, even if they are not ready yet.
Looking after the people around you
Gambling harm spreads. Partners, parents and children often carry the stress, the secrecy and the financial fallout. GamCare runs support specifically for affected family and friends, and the National Gambling Helpline is open to you whether or not the person gambling is ready to seek help. You are allowed to look after your own wellbeing here. Setting boundaries, getting your own support, and protecting joint finances are not disloyal acts; they are part of keeping everyone safe.
When the operator should have stepped in
This part comes second, on purpose, because help and safety come first. But it is worth knowing. UK-licensed gambling operators carry legal duties to protect customers. They must run identity and affordability checks, watch for signs of harm, and honour self-exclusion. When an operator ignores those duties, the money lost as a result may sometimes be recoverable.
Two situations come up again and again. The first is when self-exclusion fails: you asked to be shut out, through GAMSTOP or directly, and were still allowed to deposit and lose. Our guide to what UK law requires when self-exclusion fails explains why that can matter. The second is when an operator let you gamble far beyond what you could afford, with no meaningful affordability check, despite clear warning signs.
If either describes you, recovery may be possible where the operator breached its duties, though no outcome is guaranteed and each case turns on its own facts. We are claims specialists, not a law firm, and we work with regulated legal partners. The initial assessment is a free, confidential eligibility check, with no pressure attached. Your health and safety come first; the money question can wait until you are ready.
You can recover, and you do not have to do it alone
Gambling harm is common, and it is treatable. According to the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain, a significant minority of adults experience problems related to their gambling, so whatever you are feeling, you are far from the only person feeling it. Reaching out once is not a sign of weakness. It is the single most useful thing you can do today.
If gambling is causing you harm, free and confidential help is available now. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or chat to GamCare (gamcare.org.uk). To block gambling sites across your devices, BetBlocker (betblocker.org) is free.
Sources
- GamCare and the National Gambling Helpline, support and availability (gamcare.org.uk).
- NHS, help for problems with gambling, and NHS England on gambling-harm treatment commissioning and clinics (nhs.uk; england.nhs.uk).
- GAMSTOP, how national online self-exclusion works (gamstop.co.uk).
- BetBlocker, free multi-device gambling blocking (betblocker.org).
- Gambling Commission, Gambling Survey for Great Britain (gamblingcommission.gov.uk). Cited to attribute prevalence in general terms, not a specific figure.
General information, not legal advice. Clinton & Co Advisors is a trading name of Ramays TA/Clinton and Co Limited. We are not solicitors or a law firm. We connect clients with regulated legal partners.