1. Where to call in New Zealand

    Updated: September 2026

    Help in New Zealand is free, confidential and available whether you gamble or someone close to you does:

    • Gambling Helpline — 0800 654 655, 24 hours a day, or text 8006. Counsellors answer, not a call centre script.
    • Problem Gambling Foundation — free face-to-face and online counselling nationwide, including Asian, Pasifika and Māori services.
    • Safer Gambling Aotearoa — support for families and whānau as well as for the person gambling.
    • Gambling Therapy — free online support in several languages if you would rather not speak to anyone locally.

    None of these services charge, and none require you to stop gambling before you talk to them.

    If you would rather write than call, Gambling Helpline also answers by email and live chat, and the Problem Gambling Foundation takes referrals through its website. Waiting times are measured in minutes, not weeks.

  2. Four things that are not true

    «A machine that hasn't paid is due.» Each spin is independent. A pokie that has run cold for an hour is exactly as likely to pay on the next spin as it was on the first.

    «I can win it back.» Chasing losses is the single most reliable way to turn a bad session into a serious one. The odds do not improve because you are behind.

    «Bigger stakes mean better odds.» Stake size changes what you win or lose, never the probability of winning.

    «A system beats the house.» Martingale, Fibonacci and the rest redistribute losses; they do not remove the house edge. Any site selling one is selling you a story.

  3. Getting help for someone else

    You do not need the person's permission to get advice. Gambling Helpline and the Problem Gambling Foundation both counsel family members, and most of their work is with people who are worried about a partner, a parent or an adult child.

    Practical steps that help before any conversation: stop lending money, keep your own accounts separate, and write down what you have observed — amounts, dates, borrowing — so the discussion is about facts rather than accusations. If money has already gone missing from a shared account, a free financial mentor through MoneyTalks (0800 345 123) can help you work out what to do next.

  4. Keeping it away from children

    Gambling advertising reaches minors mainly through shared devices. Three measures do most of the work:

    • Device level. Screen Time on iOS and Family Link on Android block gambling categories and prevent new app installs.
    • Network level. A DNS filter on the home router — several free services offer a gambling category — covers every device on the network at once.
    • Account level. Do not save casino passwords in a browser profile a child uses, and turn off biometric shortcuts to gambling apps.

    Blocking software such as Gamban and GamBlock goes further and blocks gambling sites on the device itself, including this one.

    If a child has already used a card of yours on a gambling site, tell the bank and the operator in writing. Licensed operators are obliged to close accounts held by minors and to return the money staked — but only once someone reports it.

  5. Limits and tools that work

    Every serious operator, including the one reviewed here, offers limits inside the account area rather than on request:

    • Deposit limits — daily, weekly or monthly. Tightening one takes effect immediately; loosening it takes a cooling-off period, by design.
    • Loss and session limits — a ceiling on what a session may cost, and a timer that ends it.
    • Reality checks — a pop-up every 30 or 60 minutes showing time played and money spent. The single most useful setting on the list.
    • Time-out — a pause of 24 hours to six weeks, after which the account reopens by itself.
    • Self-exclusion — six months or longer, and it cannot be lifted early. Set it when you are clear-headed, not at the end of a bad session.

    Set these before you need them. Limits chosen at the start of a session are the ones that hold.

    One practical note: set the deposit limit before the first deposit of a session, not after a loss. A limit chosen while you are ahead is the one that still looks reasonable an hour later, and it is the only tool on this list that works without you having to decide anything in the moment.

  6. Signs worth taking seriously

    Gambling has stopped being entertainment when any of these are true: you are playing with money meant for rent, food or bills; you borrow to keep playing; you hide how much you play from people close to you; you cannot stop at the limit you set for yourself; you feel restless or irritable on days without a session; you play to escape stress rather than for the game itself.

    One of these is a reason to set a limit today. Several together are a reason to call 0800 654 655 — the sooner that call happens, the smaller the problem being dealt with.

  7. 18 and over

    This site is written for adults. Nothing here is aimed at anyone under 18, and licensed operators verify age before paying out — an account that fails verification is closed and its winnings withheld, which is the outcome the rule exists to produce.

    If you are under 18 and reading this because gambling is affecting someone at home, the services listed at the top of this page will talk to you too.