Responsible gambling: what to use when you need to stop

This page has no partner buttons on it, by design. If you are here because gambling has stopped being a game, the useful thing is a phone number and a switch, not another casino link.

Help, free and immediate

• ConnexOntario — free, confidential, open around the clock, by phone, text, chat or email. They will talk through what is happening and point you at treatment and support near you. You do not need a diagnosis, a referral or a plan to call.
• Responsible Gambling Council — Canadian research and plain-language material on how gambling products work on attention and on money, including help for the family around a gambler rather than only the gambler.
• CAMH — clinical information on problem gambling from Ontario’s mental health and addiction hospital.

BetGuard: one switch for the whole regulated market

Since 2026-05-14, Ontario has had a single place to opt out of online gambling instead of one casino at a time. BetGuard is run for the regulated market: register once, aged 19 or over, and you are blocked from signing in to your existing accounts, from opening new ones and from receiving marketing, across every regulated iGaming site in Ontario, OLG included. You choose the length, starting at six months.

Two things to know. It takes minutes, and it covers the regulated market: sites outside it are outside its reach, which is one more reason to stay inside the public directory. And iGaming Ontario has warned that impostor sites imitate BetGuard, so type betguard.ca yourself rather than following a link from a search ad or a message.

Limits that actually hold

Every regulated operator in Ontario has to offer you limits, and they work better than willpower because they are enforced by someone other than you at the moment you want to override them.

• A deposit limit is the strongest one, because it caps the loss rather than the activity. Set it before a session, not during one.
• A loss limit and a time limit are useful when a session tends to run on past the point you meant to stop.
• A cooling-off period locks the account for days or weeks without the finality of self-exclusion.
• Lowering a limit usually takes effect immediately, while raising it is deliberately slow. That asymmetry is the point; use it.

Signs worth taking seriously

Chasing a loss with a bigger stake. Depositing money meant for something else. Hiding the amount from someone who would ask. Gambling to fix a mood rather than to pass an hour. Borrowing to play, in any form, including a credit card cash advance. Any one of them is a reason to call ConnexOntario, and none of them means anything is wrong with you.

What this site will not do

We do not explain how to get around an age check, a location check, a deposit limit or a self-exclusion, and we do not answer messages asking for it. We also do not publish win stories or screenshots of balances. If any page here reads like encouragement to gamble, that is a fault in the page and we want to hear about it: contact.

Gambling is for adults: 19+ in Ontario, 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. Treat anything you deposit as already spent. Last reviewed 2026-10-19.