Is there a free app to stop gambling?

Yes. You should never have to pay to get better, and several good tools cost nothing. They do different jobs, so most people use two or three together.

The short list

• Hold The Bet is free, with no account, no ads and nothing to buy. It puts your own number and your own reason on a 30 second card at the moment you reach for the next bet, lets you text a person you trust in one tap, and walks you through blocking betting sites. It runs in your browser, so there is nothing to download.
• BetBlocker is a free blocking app run by a charity. It blocks gambling sites and apps on your devices for a period you choose.
• GAMSTOP (UK) and BetStop (Australia) are free national self exclusion registers. One sign up locks you out of licensed operators in that country.
• Gambling Therapy and Gamblers Anonymous are free support: online chat, forums and meetings.
• Your phone's built in controls, such as Screen Time on iPhone and Digital Wellbeing on Android, are free and can restrict betting sites.
• Your bank can usually block gambling transactions for free. Ask for a gambling block on your card.

What a free tool will not do

Blocking and self exclusion put distance between you and the next bet. They do not remove the urge. The urge is the part a pause, a person and a reason are for. That is why a free plan works best as three layers: block, pause, tell someone.

A free plan for tonight

1. Open your card and write one number and one reason.

   Free. No account. Takes two questions.

   Open your card
2. Tell one person. A text is enough.
3. Block the sites on your phone: how to block betting sites on iPhone or on Android.
4. Self exclude where you live: how to self exclude from every sportsbook.

If tonight is bad