How to get fewer betting ads and promo texts

Promos reach you in several places at once: text messages, email, app notifications and your social feeds. You can turn most of them down. It takes about fifteen minutes, and it removes some of the nudges that arrive right before an urge.

None of this stops the urge by itself. It takes away some of the prompts.

Promo texts

1. Reply STOP. Reply STOP to the sender of each promo text. Most senders stop when you do.
2. Block the number. Blocking is a second layer. Senders can use new numbers, so repeat as needed.
3. Turn on your phone's filter. On iPhone: Settings, Messages, Filter Unknown Senders. On Android, open Messages, then settings, and turn on spam protection.
4. Report the rest. On iPhone, use Report Junk under a message. On Android, report spam in the message menu.

Promo emails

1. Open the latest email from each betting company and use the unsubscribe link at the bottom.
2. In the account settings, find the communication or marketing preferences and switch everything off.
3. Make a filter in your mail app that moves anything with a betting company's name into a folder you do not open.
4. Mark leftover promos as spam.

App notifications

• iPhone: Settings, Notifications, pick the app, and turn off Allow Notifications.
• Android: long press the app, App info, Notifications, and turn them off.
• Delete the app too if you can. Why deleting alone keeps failing, and what to add.

Ads in your feeds

• On each social app, use the menu on an ad to hide it or say you do not want to see it.
• In your ad settings, turn off personalized ads and review the interests listed. Remove any betting and sports gambling topics.
• Mute or unfollow accounts that post odds and tips.
• Use your phone's setting to limit ad tracking: on iPhone, Settings, Privacy & Security, Tracking. On Android, search Settings for Ads and delete or reset the advertising ID.

Ads may still show up. That is how the feeds work. The point is to see fewer of them.

Offers that come from your own account

Free bets, boosts and deposit matches are made to feel like a gift. If you are trying to stop, they are a pull. Read free bets and bonus offers when you are trying to stop. In many places, self exclusion also stops the company's marketing to you: every sportsbook's page.

When a promo lands at the wrong moment

Close it without tapping. Do not open the offer to see what it is. If the urge is up, use the next ten minutes.

Pause before the next bet

Hold The Bet is free with no account. It never sends you offers and has no ads. It shows your own number and reason and holds a 30 second pause before you bet.