Responsible gambling help

Recognising the signs

Gambling harm doesn't look the same for everyone, and it doesn't require large amounts of money to be a problem. Some signs worth paying attention to, in yourself or someone you care about:

• Spending more time or money gambling than you planned to, on a regular basis
• Chasing losses — gambling more to try to win back what's already been lost
• Feeling restless, irritable or anxious when trying to cut back or stop
• Borrowing money, selling belongings, or missing bill payments to fund gambling
• Lying to family, friends or a partner about how much time or money is spent gambling
• Using gambling to escape stress, sadness or other difficult feelings
• Neglecting work, study, sleep or relationships because of gambling

Noticing one or two of these occasionally doesn't automatically mean there's a serious problem — but noticing several together, or a pattern that's getting worse rather than better, is a good reason to reach out to one of the free services below. Early conversations are almost always easier than ones that happen after a crisis.

Setting limits before you play

Most licensed online casinos, including the two we review on this site, let you set limits directly in your account settings — and the right time to set them is before a session starts, not partway through one.

A practical rule that costs nothing to follow: decide the amount you're comfortable losing before you start, treat it as the cost of entertainment rather than an investment, and stop when you reach it — whether you're up or down. If a limit feels restrictive or frustrating to set, that reaction is itself worth paying attention to.

Self-exclusion options

BetStop — the National Self-Exclusion Register

BetStop is the Australian Government's National Self-Exclusion Register. It lets you exclude yourself from all licensed online wagering services operating in Australia at once, for a period you choose (from 3 months up to a lifetime ban), rather than having to contact each operator individually. Because it operates at a national level, it's generally the most effective single step available if you want to stop being able to access licensed gambling sites altogether.

Account-level self-exclusion

Individual casino operators, including Bitkingz and Crocoslots, also offer their own account-level self-exclusion and "cooling off" tools directly in account settings, typically ranging from a short break of a few days up to a permanent account closure. This is useful if you want to step back from a specific operator without necessarily excluding from every licensed site at once.

Support services across Australia

Support is also available at a state and territory level — our state-by-state guides list locally relevant contacts alongside general offer information, since a Queensland player and a Victorian player may prefer a service based in their own state or time zone.

Support for family & friends

Gambling harm rarely affects only the person gambling — partners, family members and friends often carry real financial and emotional strain too, and support services exist for them specifically, not just for the person gambling. Gambling Help Online's counselling and webchat services are available to family members and friends on the same terms (free, confidential, 24/7), and a financial counsellor via the National Debt Helpline can help work through joint financial impacts like shared debt or household bills.

If you're supporting someone else, it's worth remembering that you can seek support for yourself even if the person gambling isn't ready to. You don't have to wait for them to reach out first.

Our commitment on this site

Every page on this site carries an 18+ notice and a link to this page. We describe bonus terms, wagering requirements and realistic loss potential in every review, rather than only the headline bonus figure, so a reader can make an informed decision rather than an optimistic one. We don't use language that frames gambling as a way to make money, and we don't publish reviews of operators that lack visible deposit-limit and self-exclusion tools in their own account settings.

See our about us page for more on how this commitment fits into the site's broader testing and editorial process.

Frequently asked questions