Responsible Gambling and Where to Get Help

If gambling, or a free casino app, is taking more money or time than you want it to, help is free and confidential in every province and territory. The table below lists the official lines, each checked against the service’s or the government’s own website on October 13, 2026. If you or someone else is in crisis, call or text 9-8-8 at any time.

Canada Prize Social is an independent guide to social and free-play casino apps. It is not a casino: it offers no games, takes no bets, sells no coins and is written for adults.

Who can I call about gambling in my province or territory?

A few notes on the table. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not list a working gambling-only line on the official pages we checked, so their rows show the general mental health and addictions route. The Newfoundland and Labrador government’s Bridge the gapp gambling page also points to walk-in counselling and to 12-step groups such as Gamblers Anonymous. Numbers and hours change, so if a line does not answer, check its website.

Is there support that works anywhere in Canada?

What is the legal gambling age in each province?

The age depends on the province, and in some provinces on the product too. These are the ages we could confirm on official provincial or operator sources on October 13, 2026:

Lottery tickets follow their own rule in the West. The Western Canada Lottery Corporation, which runs lotteries for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut as associate members, has a policy of refusing lottery ticket sales to anyone under 18.

For New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, we could not confirm the age on an official page for this update, so check with Atlantic Lottery or at the venue. Our province by province guide and the Atlantic Canada page cover how social casino apps and prize sites are treated where you live.

How does self-exclusion work?

Self-exclusion is an agreement to be kept out of gambling venues or websites for a set period. These are the provincial programs we confirmed on official pages:

• Ontario: OLG’s My PlayBreak lets players take a break from Ontario casinos and charitable gaming centres for 3 months to 5 years, or from OLG’s own website for 1 day to 6 months. BetGuard is a separate province-wide tool that blocks you from every regulated online gambling site in Ontario for 6 months to 5 years. It does not cover in-person casinos.
• British Columbia: BCLC’s Game Break covers gambling facilities and online gambling for six months, one, two or three years. BCLC says the period starts right away and cannot be changed once you register.
• Alberta: the AGLC’s Self-Exclusion Program, which lets you exclude yourself from PlayAlberta, the provincial online site.
• Saskatchewan: Voluntary Self-Exclusion through PlayNow Saskatchewan.
• Manitoba: Voluntary Self-Exclusion through Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries’ PlayNow Manitoba.
• Quebec: Loto-Québec offers self-exclusion (autoexclusion) alongside limits and breaks in the account tools on its gaming site.
• New Brunswick: Casino New Brunswick runs a Voluntary Self-Exclusion program, with information at the casino’s Responsible Gaming Information Centre.

Self-exclusion covers real-money gambling only. It does not block a free-play casino app, because the programs are run for real-money venues and sites. For that, use the purchase and time controls in our guide to setting your own limits.

How do you know when to reach out?

You do not need a diagnosis to call any of the lines above. Spending more than you planned, chasing losses, hiding how much you play and playing to escape are all reasons to talk to someone. Our page on when free play stops being fun goes through the warning signs and Canada’s Lower-Risk Gambling Guidelines.

This page is part of how we work: see about Canada Prize Social and our editorial policy for how we research and check what we publish. For the money side of social casino apps, start with spending and staying in control, and if you are weighing up prize-redemption sites, read our guide to sweepstakes and prize casinos first.