Gambling responsibly means you decide in advance how much time and money you're prepared to spend on gambling, and you stop when you reach that limit. We wrote this guide for people who play at crypto casinos. Most crypto casinos are licensed offshore, not in the country where you live. That means your national self-exclusion scheme and the player protections in your local gambling law don't apply to them, so it's up to you to set up the safeguards a locally licensed operator would be required to offer. Further down you can check your gambling habits and find help for yourself and for the people close to you.
- If you need to talk to someone now: Gambling Therapy offers free support worldwide at gamblingtherapy.org, through forums and email, and its map of local help shows where to turn in your country
- Am I at risk? take the nine-question self-test further down, which covers the last 12 months
- National self-exclusion: only covers operators licensed in your country and doesn't stop offshore crypto casinos
- Excluding yourself: do it at each casino separately and block gambling sites with a tool such as BetBlocker or Gamban
- Debt: look for a free debt advice service where you live
What is responsible gambling?
Responsible gambling means you play with a budget and a time limit that you set before you start, using money you can afford to lose. Gambling is entertainment that costs money, not a way to make money. Expect to lose what you stake, because the casino has a house edge in every game and wins in the long run.
According to the Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling (October 2024), about 11.9% of men and 5.5% of women worldwide show at least one sign of risky gambling, meaning at least one symptom or negative consequence. That's an estimated 448.7 million adults, and about 80 million of them experience gambling disorder or problematic gambling. Among adults who gambled on online casino or slot games in the past year, the Commission puts the share with problem gambling or a gambling disorder at around one in six (15.8%).
You don't need to have a gambling addiction to get something out of this page. It's for you too if you gamble more often than you'd like, or with money that was meant for something else.
Why is it harder to gamble responsibly at a crypto casino?
It's harder because the protections that regulated markets require from licensed operators are missing at crypto casinos. On top of that, crypto payments get around several of the blocks that work for cards and banks. These six differences matter most:
- No local regulator and no national self-exclusion: Whether you're allowed to play at an offshore crypto casino depends on where you live, so check your local rules. Either way, a casino without a gambling license from your country isn't supervised by your country's regulator and isn't connected to any national self-exclusion scheme there.
- Protection tools are voluntary: In many regulated markets, the law requires licensed operators to let you set a deposit limit, offer a self-test and let you exclude yourself. A crypto casino can choose whether to offer these tools, and some offer none at all.
- A card block isn't enough: A gambling block on your bank card stops card payments to gambling sites. It doesn't stop you from buying crypto on an exchange and sending it from your crypto wallet to the casino.
- You can't undo a deposit: Once a crypto transaction is confirmed on the blockchain, it's final, and no bank can stop or reverse the payment afterward.
- Self-exclusion only covers one casino: There's no shared self-exclusion register that every crypto casino is connected to. If you exclude yourself at one casino, you can still open an account at the next one.
- A crypto balance hides your losses: When your balance is shown in BTC or USDT, it's easy to lose track of how much you've actually lost. The exchange rate against your own currency moves as well, so always set your budget in your local currency.
Important: If you have signed up for a national self-exclusion scheme, it only covers operators licensed in that country. An offshore crypto casino can still let you open an account, so you need your own blocks on your devices. We explain how to set them up further down this page.
What are the warning signs of a gambling problem?
The clearest warning signs are that you think about gambling almost all the time, need to bet more and more to feel the same excitement, and play again to win back what you've lost. The nine signs below are based on the criteria for gambling disorder in the DSM-5, the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual:
- Your thoughts: you think about gambling almost all the time.
- Your stakes: you need to gamble with bigger and bigger amounts to get the same excitement as before.
- Your control: you've tried to cut down or stop gambling several times without succeeding.
- Your mood: you get restless or irritable when you try to cut down.
- Escape: you gamble to avoid thinking about your problems or to ease low mood, guilt or anxiety.
- Chasing losses: you gamble again to win back money you've lost.
- Lies: you hide how much you really gamble from your family and others.
- Relationships: gambling has cost you, or threatens to cost you, a close relationship, a job or your education.
- Money: you rely on others to fix money problems your gambling has caused.
If one or more of these signs sound familiar, that's a reason to take a closer look at your gambling habits. The self-test below gives you a clearer picture than a checklist.
Do you have a gambling problem? Check your gambling habits
The test has nine questions about your gambling over the last 12 months. For each one, you answer Never, Sometimes, Most of the time or Almost always, and your total places you in one of four levels, from no signs of gambling problems to clear signs of a gambling problem.
The questions come from the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a screening test developed in 2001 by Canadian researchers Ferris and Wynne. They built it for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA, now the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction) to use in population surveys. The test uses the original English wording, and Gambling Therapy uses the same nine questions in its own self-test. Your result isn't a diagnosis. It shows where your answers fall on the scale, and only a healthcare professional can tell whether you have a gambling addiction. Your score is calculated in your browser, and your answers are never saved or sent anywhere.
Check your gambling habits
Think about your gambling over the last 12 months and pick the answer that fits best for each question. The score for each answer is in parentheses.
Your answers aren't saved or sent anywhere. The result is calculated in your browser.
| Score | Level |
|---|---|
| 0 | No signs of gambling problems right now |
| 1-2 | Some risk |
| 3-7 | Elevated risk |
| 8-27 | Clear signs of a gambling problem |
How to set limits when you gamble with crypto
Before you log in, decide how much you're willing to lose and how long you'll play. Set that amount in your own currency, then use the tools the casino offers. The table shows the five most common ones: deposit limit, loss limit, time limit, reality check and self-exclusion.
| Tool | What it does | What to check at a crypto casino |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit limit | Caps how much you can deposit per day, week or month | Whether you can set the limit yourself in your account and how long it takes to raise it |
| Loss limit | Stops play when your net loss for the period reaches the limit | Whether the limit is counted in crypto or in a fixed currency |
| Time limit | Caps how long you can stay logged in per day, week or month | Whether the casino logs you out or only shows a warning |
| Reality check | Shows a reminder after a set time, for example 30 or 60 minutes, without stopping play | Whether you can choose the interval yourself |
| Self-exclusion | Closes your account for a period you choose, or permanently | Whether the exclusion can be lifted early and whether it covers every part of the site |
When you gamble with crypto, a few extra habits make it easier to stick to your limit:
- Keep your gambling budget in a separate crypto wallet and only transfer the amount you've set for the period.
- Don't buy more crypto during a session. Decide before you start that whatever is in your gambling wallet is all there is.
- Don't count on a bonus to rescue your balance. Bonuses come with wagering requirements, which mean you have to wager far more than the bonus is worth before you can withdraw anything.
- Learn how your money moves from the exchange to the casino, so you know where you can build in a pause. Our guide to buying crypto for a casino walks you through it step by step.
In our reviews, we note whether a casino offers responsible-gambling tools. Several casinos in our comparison have neither the tools nor any information on the subject. Our guide to how safe crypto casinos are covers more risks, such as KYC (identity verification) and the weaker player protection that comes with some licenses.
How do you exclude yourself from gambling?
In regulated markets, a national self-exclusion scheme often lets you exclude yourself from every licensed operator at once. Crypto casinos aren't connected to those schemes, so you have to exclude yourself at each casino separately and also block gambling sites on your devices. Combining several blocks gives you the most protection.
National self-exclusion schemes
Many countries run a national self-exclusion register. You sign up once, and every operator licensed in that country has to keep you out for the period you choose. The scheme only covers operators with a license in that country.
That's why it doesn't stop crypto casinos. If you play at a casino that isn't licensed where you live, you don't get the protections your local gambling law gives you, and the right to exclude yourself from every licensed operator at once is one of them.
Self-exclusion at a crypto casino
At a crypto casino, you exclude yourself in your account settings or through customer support. Here's how:
- Log in and look for self-exclusion or responsible gambling in your account settings.
- Choose the longest period available, or permanent exclusion.
- If the feature is missing, contact support through live chat or email and ask them to close your account permanently.
- Ask for written confirmation and keep it.
- Withdraw your balance before the exclusion starts, or ask support how any remaining balance will be paid out.
A self-exclusion only applies at that one casino, so you also need to block gambling sites on your devices.
Block gambling sites on your phone and computer
BetBlocker is a free blocking tool run by a charity registered in Scotland. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, and you can choose a block period from one day to five years. The block can't be lifted before the period ends, and its block list covers both licensed and unlicensed gambling sites.
Gamban is a paid service with a seven-day free trial, and one license covers all your devices. Gamban also has its own blocking category for crypto. Neither tool promises to stop every crypto casino, but both make it harder to gamble on impulse.
On an iPhone, you can also block individual websites in Screen Time. Let someone you trust choose the passcode, so you can't remove the block yourself in the moment.
Block gambling payments
Some card issuers let you block gambling transactions on your card. Revolut's gambling block, for example, stops card payments to merchants categorized as gambling. The block kicks in immediately, but turning it off can take up to 48 hours. Revolut itself says it doesn't affect bank transfers or payments made through third-party apps.
A card block isn't enough when you gamble with crypto. It doesn't stop you from buying crypto on an exchange and sending it on to the casino, so you need to combine it with blocking on your devices. Read more about how deposits work at crypto casinos.
Where can you get help with gambling problems?
Start with Gambling Therapy, a free global service from the UK charity Gordon Moody. You can post in its support forums around the clock or email help@gordonmoody.org.uk, and the site is available in many languages. Gambling Therapy also has a country-by-country map of local help, so it can point you to a helpline or treatment where you live.
It's better to get help too early than too late. You don't need to have a gambling addiction to ask for help. If you gamble more than you want to, or more than you can handle, that's reason enough. The table shows where you can turn, what you get there and what it costs.
| Organization | What you get | Contact | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gambling Therapy | Support forums open around the clock, email support and a country-by-country map of local help, for anyone affected by gambling | Forums on gamblingtherapy.org, email help@gordonmoody.org.uk | Free |
| Gamblers Anonymous | A twelve-step fellowship with meetings in person, online and by phone | Meeting search on gamblersanonymous.org. International Service Office: +1 (909) 931-9056, isomain@gamblersanonymous.org | No dues or fees |
| Gam-Anon | Support groups for family and friends of people who gamble, including virtual and international meetings | Meeting directory on gam-anon.org | The site doesn't list any fees |
| Your doctor or a local addiction service | Assessment and treatment, such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) | Your doctor, or the services listed for your country on Gambling Therapy's map | Depends on the health system where you live |
We checked every phone number, email address and fee on the organizations' own websites on October 13, 2026.
Are you or someone close to you having thoughts of suicide? If anyone is in immediate danger, call your local emergency number now. Find A Helpline lists free, confidential crisis lines in more than 175 countries.
Help for family and friends
If you're close to someone who gambles, you can get support for yourself, even if the person who gambles doesn't want help. Gambling Therapy supports anyone affected by gambling, family members included, through the same forums and email as players.
Gam-Anon is a fellowship for family and friends of people with a gambling problem. It holds meetings in the US and Canada, plus virtual and international meetings you can join from anywhere.
Three tips if someone close to you gambles:
- Protect your own finances, for example by keeping separate accounts and not taking out new joint loans.
- Don't pay off gambling debts for the person who gambles until you've talked to a support service or a debt advisor.
- Tell them you're worried and where help is available. You can't cure someone else's gambling problem, but you can point them toward help.
What should you do if gambling has led to debt?
Contact a free debt advice service where you live. Many countries have free, confidential debt advice, and Gambling Therapy's map of local help lists debt and money advice services for a number of countries.
- Stop borrowing to gamble or to win back what you've lost. Borrowing money to gamble is one of the questions in the self-test above.
- Write down all your debts, who you owe and what you have to pay each month.
- Book an appointment with a debt advisor and bring the list.
- If your debts are so large that it would take you many years to pay them off, ask the debt advisor whether a formal debt relief or insolvency procedure is available where you live.
Tip: Tell someone you trust how much you gamble. It can feel embarrassing, but saying it out loud is often the first step toward accepting help. Ask them for support, not to take responsibility for your gambling.
Gambling involves risk. Play responsibly. 18+. Gambling laws vary by jurisdiction, check your local rules.
