Questions · Help
Short answer
With several barriers at once: self-exclusion for licensed sites, a blocker such as BetBlocker on your phone and computer, a gambling block at your bank and fewer gambling ads. The more layers, the less it all depends on your willpower at the worst moment.
The urge to gamble comes at the worst moment: at night, after bad news, phone in hand. A single barrier can be got round in that moment. Several together turn one click into a long road, and that extra time is often what lets the urge pass.
The list below starts with the barriers that, once in place, no longer depend on you. Tick the ones you already have. They stay saved in your browser so you can come back to them.
Your barriers against gambling
If you only do one thing today, make it this. The step-by-step guide for Spain is in How do you self-exclude from gambling in Spain?
And for a full plan, with your triggers and what to do when the urge comes, you can build and print one in The Way.
BetBlocker is free and works on phones and computers. Gamban is paid. More than which one you choose, what matters is that someone else controls the password or the uninstall, so you cannot remove it in a moment of impulse.
Some banks let you block payments to gambling merchants in their app, and if the option is not there you can ask by phone. Gambling payments carry their own merchant code (7995), which is what the bank blocks.
On Google, “My Ad Center” lets you limit gambling ads. On social media, unfollow bookmakers, tipsters and tips accounts, and mute groups where bets are shared.