Responsible gambling: tools, limits and free help in Ireland

Free help in Ireland

If betting is hurting you or a person you care about, the quickest route is a phone call. The GamblingCare National Helpline, 1800 936 725, is staffed around the clock and costs nothing to call.

This list follows the GRAI’s Get Help page, which also lists residential treatment centres (Rutland Centre, Tabor Group, Aiseiri, Cuan Mhuire) and links to the HRB map of local services. Numbers and hours were checked on 3 October 2026.

One point of transparency: GamblingCare is run by a trust that, as its own site states, is paid for wholly by contributions from betting and gaming companies. The HSE helpline and Extern are not.

Warning signs

The GRAI offers a short self-check based on the Problem Gambling Severity Index on its gambling safety pages. The questions it asks are a good list of warning signs. Over the last year, have you:

• bet more than you could really afford to lose?
• needed to bet larger amounts to get the same feeling?
• gone back another day to try to win back money you lost?
• borrowed money or sold something to bet?
• felt that you might have a problem with betting?
• had stress, anxiety or poor sleep because of betting?
• been criticised for your betting, or had money problems at home because of it?
• felt guilty about the way you bet, or what happens when you bet?

If any answer is “sometimes” or more often, it is worth talking to one of the services above. You do not need to wait until things are serious.

Risks specific to betting

Betting costs money and most bets lose. The bookmaker’s margin is built into every price, so over time the bettor pays it.

Some features make it easier to lose track. In-play betting means a new bet is always a tap away during a match, which makes chasing a loss easy. Accumulators combine several selections, which makes each bet less likely to win. Betting every day, on anything that is on, turns a pastime into a habit. None of these is a problem in itself; together with the warning signs above, they are a reason to set limits.

What licensed bookmakers must do

Online bookmakers serving customers in Ireland have needed a GRAI licence since 1 July 2026. According to the GRAI, licence holders must, among other things:

• check your age and identity before an account is opened: you must be 18 or over to apply (Gambling Regulation Act 2024, s. 169);
• not accept credit cards or offer credit to bet (s. 165);
• provide a way to set limits on spending (s. 164);
• close your account when you ask (s. 171);
• not allow anyone under 18 to bet (s. 158).

These are obligations, not favours, so we do not present them as a reason to choose one bookmaker over another. You can check whether a company holds a licence on the GRAI public register.

Setting a limit

1. Decide how much you can spend on betting each week or month without missing it — before you look at any market.
2. Open your account settings and find the deposit limit (sometimes under “Safer gambling” or “Responsible gambling”).
3. Set a daily, weekly or monthly limit. Lowering a limit usually applies straight away.
4. Check how long an increase takes to apply. The bookmaker’s terms state this; where it is published, our operator files record it.
5. Turn on reality checks, which show a reminder of how long you have been logged in.

If you have accounts with more than one bookmaker, a limit with one does nothing at the others. Set one everywhere, or close the accounts you do not need.

Time-out and self-exclusion

A time-out (also called “take a break”) locks your account for a short period you choose. Self-exclusion closes it for a longer period, usually months or years, and the bookmaker should not reopen it or send you marketing during that time.

Both are set up with each bookmaker separately. Several brands can belong to the same licence holder; ask the bookmaker whether an exclusion covers its other brands, and see Who owns which bookmaker for the shared licences we know of.

The Gambling Regulation Act 2024 sets up a National Gambling Exclusion Register (sections 44 to 49), but that register is not yet operating. There is no single place to exclude yourself from every Irish bookmaker at once. GAMSTOP covers only operators licensed in Great Britain, so it is not an Irish scheme.

Blocking software and bank blocks

The GRAI’s protection tools page lists two kinds of blocks that work across all betting sites:

• Blocking software such as Gamban and BetBlocker, installed on your phone or computer, stops gambling sites and apps from opening.
• Bank gambling blocks stop your card being used for gambling payments. Irish banks offer them as follows:

You can also reduce the gambling advertising you see: Google and Meta both let you limit gambling ads in their ad settings, and the GRAI page above explains where.

Help for family and friends

Someone else’s betting can affect a whole household. The Family Addiction Support Network (042 935 5251, 24 hours) supports family members, and MABS (0818 07 2000) can help with debts that betting has left behind. Gamblers Anonymous Ireland lists meetings around the country.

If you are worried about a child or teenager: in Ireland, gambling by anyone under 18 is prohibited (Gambling Regulation Act 2024). The GRAI publishes advice for parents and guardians on its gambling safety pages, and parental-control software can block gambling sites on shared devices.

About this page

This page carries no bookmaker links and no advertising. Rivoatlas is not a bookmaker and does not hold a gambling licence. If something here is out of date, write to support@rivoatlas.com.