If today is a hard day
All free, all open 24 hours a day. In the US, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET. In England and Scotland, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. In Wales, call the Wales gambling helpline on 0808 281 9265. You do not need a diagnosis, a plan, or the right words before calling. Our responsible gambling page keeps these numbers and other options in one place.
A condition, not a character flaw
Compulsive gambling is a recognised medical condition. Its clinical name is gambling disorder, and both of the main diagnostic manuals, DSM-5 and ICD-11, list it alongside substance use disorders. Like other conditions it responds to treatment: not instantly, and not identically for everyone, but treatment helps many people, and the NICE guideline is plain that recovery is possible.
That framing matters because, in the World Health Organization's words, stigma and shame often prevent people from seeking help. You are not weak. You are dealing with a condition that has known, tested treatments.
CBT: the best-evidenced option
Cognitive behavioural therapy has the strongest evidence base for gambling problems, and the NICE guideline recommends it: in a group first, one-to-one if a group does not suit you. The evidence is clearest for the months right after treatment; a Cochrane review found that little is known yet about how long the benefit lasts, and NICE asks that every course include a plan for triggers and relapses. The idea is practical rather than mysterious. A therapist helps you do three things:
- Map your triggers. The situations, feelings, and times of day that come before a session.
- Question the beliefs that keep you playing. Chasing losses, numbers feeling "due", the sense that a win is close. These are predictable distortions, and they can be unlearned.
- Build replacement responses. Concrete plans for the moments when the urge arrives.
NICE describes a course of usually 8 to 10 sessions in a group or 6 to 8 one-to-one, in person, by phone or by video. Helplines can refer you to therapists who work specifically with gambling, and in England you can refer yourself to an NHS gambling clinic.
The other options, honestly described
| Option | What it is | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Helplines | Immediate, confidential phone support and referral to local treatment | Free |
| CBT with a therapist | Structured short-course therapy; the best-evidenced approach | Through NHS gambling clinics in England (you can refer yourself); elsewhere, varies |
| Gamblers Anonymous | Peer support meetings, in person and online; no appointment or referral needed | Free |
| Outpatient programmes | Regular scheduled treatment while you keep living at home | Varies |
| Residential treatment | Live-in programmes for severe cases | Varies; in the UK you can apply to Gordon Moody, the residential treatment charity, yourself |
No medicine is approved for gambling disorder in the US. In the UK, the NICE guideline says a specialist can consider naltrexone, used off-label, if therapy has not worked or relapses keep happening. A clinician may also treat conditions that often travel with gambling problems, such as depression or anxiety, which is one more reason a proper assessment helps.
Steps that make treatment stick
- Self-exclusion. Many places run free programmes that bar you from casinos or gambling sites at your own request, from Great Britain's national schemes such as GAMSTOP to US state programmes such as New Jersey's. Signing up removes the decision from your worst moments.
- Put distance between you and the money. Let someone you trust hold cards and passwords for a while. Urges pass faster when acting on them takes effort.
- Tell one person. Not everyone. One. Secrecy is the condition's best friend.
- Blocking software. Tools that block gambling sites on your devices are a speed bump rather than a wall, but speed bumps help.
What this page will never do
This site writes about casino games and the math behind them. This page is the exception: it contains no strategy, no odds, and nothing to buy. If gambling has stopped being entertainment you budget for, the numbers at the top of this page are the whole point. Call one.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these on 12 October 2026. The advice between the facts is ours.
- NICE, Gambling-related harms, guideline NG248 (January 2025): group and individual CBT and what a course includes (1.5.13 to 1.5.15), remote delivery (1.5.6), naltrexone (1.5.16 and 1.5.17), recovery is possible (1.1.8).
- Cochrane, Psychological therapies for pathological and problem gambling: benefits of CBT right after treatment; little is known about how long they last.
- World Health Organization, Gambling fact sheet (December 2024): gambling disorder in DSM-5 and ICD-11; stigma and shame.
- NHS, Help for problems with gambling (reviewed December 2023): self-referral to NHS gambling clinics, GAMSTOP, blocking software and bank blocks.
- Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance, Treating Gambling Disorder: A Guide for Providers (February 2026): no FDA-approved medicine for gambling disorder.
- Gordon Moody, How to apply: applying for residential treatment yourself.
- New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Self-exclusion FAQs: the state's casino and online self-exclusion programme.
- Gambling Commission, Free self-exclusion schemes and helplines (updated September 2026): the helpline numbers for England and Scotland and for Wales, free and open 24 hours a day. National Council on Problem Gambling, 1-800-MY-RESET (January 2026): the US helpline, free, confidential and open 24/7.
More in Breaking the Habit
- Alternative Hobbies That Can Replace Gambling
- Online Support Forums for Gambling Problems
- Gambling Addiction and Isolation: A Way Back
First published on this site's WordPress blog between September and December 2025; rewritten in August 2026; facts checked against the sources above on 12 October 2026.