Gambling Addiction: How to Stop Gambling and Get Help
To stop gambling, close every betting account, block the apps on every device and self-exclude with each operator, all in the same week, and hand your bank cards to someone you trust.
When the betting keeps coming back anyway, it is usually relieving something else, such as anxiety, low mood or drinking, and that needs treating too. Renewed Life Center in Lakeside, Cape Town, treats both.
Gambling in South Africa: how big is the problem in 2026?
Gambling in South Africa is growing fast, and online betting is the main reason: it grew from R23.7 billion in 2022/23 to R62.1 billion in 2025/26, Times Live reported in June 2026.
Online betting, 2022/23R23.7bn
Online betting, 2025/26R62.1bn
Online betting more than doubled in three years.
Source: Times Live, 24 June 2026
South African gambling statistics worth noting
- Gamblers lost R74.5 billion in 2024/25, and 59.7% of that revenue came from online betting, per the National Gambling Board.
- The Western Cape produced 31.0% of the country’s gross gambling revenue that year.
- Calls to the national responsible gambling helpline rose from 140,000 to 1.1 million, Daily Maverick reported in January 2026. These are calls, not people.
What is gambling addiction?
Gambling addiction, formally gambling disorder, is betting that carries on despite the damage it does to money, work and the people at home. The American Psychiatric Association diagnoses it when at least four of its criteria are present in the past year. The World Health Organization’s ICD-11 lists it as code 6C50.
Only one in ten people with it seek treatment, the APA says. The thinking that keeps it going is part of the reason: you can win it back, a near miss means the next one is close, your system will pay off once the bad run ends.
The harm goes past money. A 2024 meta-analysis by Kristensen and colleagues found lifetime suicidal thoughts in 31.6% of people with gambling problems and suicide attempts in 13.2%.
Thoughts like these can arrive after a heavy loss or on the day the debts come out, when there seems to be no way back. That is the time to get professional help, rather than after the money is sorted. If you or someone close to you might act on them now, or cannot stay safe, get emergency help immediately instead of waiting for a reply from us; you can also call the Suicide Crisis Helpline on 0800 567 567. Once you are safe, you or a relative can talk to our team about the gambling and what treatment would involve; you do not need the full debt figure for that conversation.
The rise of online gambling addiction
Online betting is easier to repeat and easier to hide, because the phone removes the pause between the urge and the bet. Hing and colleagues, writing on online gambling, note that access at any time of day makes intense betting easier and probably helps hide it from the people closest to you. The apps add the rest: no closing time, “boosts” after a quiet week, deposits from a saved card in seconds. If most of your betting now happens on an app, late at night or in private, it is easier to talk about it now than after the next big loss.
What causes gambling addiction? How gambling affects the brain
Gambling addiction has no single cause: it grows where a fast reward meets something a person needs relief from. The reward side is the brain’s dopamine system. An unpredictable reward holds attention harder than a steady one, and a near miss fires much like a win. The part dopamine plays explains why the next result is so hard to walk away from.
Betting switches off boredom, a flat mood, stress at work or a relationship under strain. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma and money pressure all raise the risk, and shame about the losses deepens the low mood the betting was soothing.
A 2025 meta-analysis by Galeazzi and colleagues found that 82.2% of people with gambling disorder had another mental disorder, most often substance use (34.2%), mood (30.9%) or anxiety disorders (29.9%).
Blocking the apps is only half the job. It takes away the tool and leaves the anxiety, low mood or old pain the betting was managing. At Renewed Life Center that part is led by Ruby Weber, the psychologist who heads psychology at the centre. She has spent more than two decades in the addictions field treating both chemical and process addictions, with a particular interest in how trauma intensifies them.
Gambling addiction symptoms
The main symptoms of gambling addiction are needing bigger bets for the same feeling, chasing losses, lying about how much you bet, failed attempts to cut down, restlessness when you try to stop, and borrowing to cover debts. Here are the DSM-5 criteria as they look inside a betting app.
| Criterion | How it looks in practice |
|---|---|
| Preoccupation | Checking odds during work, planning tonight’s bets at lunch |
| Needing bigger bets | A small stake used to feel exciting, now only a big one does |
| Restless when cutting down | Irritable on a weekend without a bet |
| Failed attempts to stop | Deleting the app, reinstalling it the same night |
| Betting to escape | Opening the app after a fight or a bad day |
| Chasing losses | Doubling the next bet to win back what was lost |
| Lying | A second account, deleted notifications, a story about the money |
| Risking what matters | Missed work, a relationship on the edge, studies dropped |
| Relying on others for money | Loans, family asked to cover a debt |
One of these in a bad month is common. Four or more inside a year is where a diagnosis begins. Send us what you bet on and roughly what it has cost, and our team will talk through which next step fits.
When does casual gambling become a gambling problem?
Casual gambling becomes a problem when you can no longer stop at the limit you set. A bet on the weekend match is not a warning sign. Betting money meant for rent or school fees, hiding it, or betting to make up a month’s shortfall is.
If the limits you set keep slipping, that is reason enough to talk to us. If drinking or pills come with the betting, do not stop those suddenly on your own, and message us first.
How to quit gambling: tips and where to start
To quit gambling, make the next bet hard to place and impossible to hide.
Six steps for this week
Close every account
The main app, and the second one you rarely mention.
Block on every device
A blocker such as BetBlocker or Gamban on the phone and laptop, and a filter on the home Wi-Fi.
Delete saved card details
Retyping a card number at 1 a.m. is a pause, and a pause is often enough to break an urge.
Hand over the money
Let someone you trust hold the cards and see the statements for a few months.
Write down the real number
Every debt, loan and account. It is usually bigger than the figure in your head.
Plan the danger hours
Payday, late nights and big match weekends. Fill them with people, plans or a meeting.
For free gambling counselling, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation runs the national gambling addiction hotline on 0800 006 008, and Gamblers Anonymous holds a Monday-evening 12-step meeting in Edgemead, Cape Town. Both are a good start for an early problem.
These steps work best early on. If you have stopped and started again more than once, or the betting sits on top of drinking, low mood or anxiety, blocking apps will not reach what is driving it. A psychologist and a structured programme can. Tell us what you have already tried, and the plan starts there.
How to block gambling sites and self-exclude in South Africa
To block gambling in South Africa, use three layers: a blocking app on each device, a filter on the home network, and a formal self-exclusion with every operator you have used.
| Layer | What it stops | How to set it up |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking app (BetBlocker, Gamban) | Betting sites and apps on that device | Install on every device, with a delay before removal |
| Router or DNS filter | Gambling sites on the home Wi-Fi | Block the gambling category in the router or a family DNS such as OpenDNS |
| Self-exclusion | Your accounts with that operator | Ask each operator you have used, or the provincial gambling board |
Self-exclusion starts with the operator, or in the Western Cape with the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. The order runs for at least six months, and under the National Gambling Board’s rules it is lifted only after proof that you attended counselling sessions.
Warning signs of gambling addiction
The clearest warning signs of gambling addiction are about money, and families usually see them before the person admits anything:
- Withdrawals nobody explains, on a normal income.
- A phone that goes face down when you walk in, and late nights on it during big fixtures.
- Loans, or requests for money with a vague reason, more than once.
- Things going missing, or being sold.
- Irritability, poor sleep and silence when betting comes up.
One of these alone proves nothing. Several together, and getting worse, are reason enough to raise it. You do not need proof to write to us.
How to help someone with a gambling addiction
To help someone with a gambling addiction, start with the money, then the conversation. Separate your accounts and stop covering gambling debts: it feels loving, and it usually pays for the next round. Protect the money the household runs on first: the rent, school fees and your own savings. Keep it out of their reach for as long as you need.
After months of hidden betting, trust comes back slowly: the statements start matching what was said, and months pass without a new secret. Asking for open accounts for that time is fair. In family therapy with us, the two of you work on that trust and on how money is handled at home, with a therapist keeping the conversation on track.
Pick a calm moment, not the night you found the statement. Describe what you have seen and how it affected you, not what they are. You do not have to wait for them to agree before you get help: a relative can talk to our team before the person has agreed to come, so you can tell us what you found and plan how to raise treatment. Our guide to talking to someone you love about rehab covers the conversation step by step.
Found the statements and do not know what to do? Tell us what you found.Found the statements and do not know what to do? Call +27 79 880 0045, free and confidential.
Overcoming gambling addiction: what gambling rehab involves
Gambling rehab is therapy aimed at the betting itself, plus treatment for whatever travels with it. A Cochrane review found that cognitive behavioural therapy reduces gambling behaviour right after treatment, and NICE’s guideline on gambling-related harms says treatment should include a relapse prevention component, covering how to deal with triggers and how to respond to a relapse. CBT is also the usual starting point for other behavioural addictions, such as compulsive porn use or gaming.
That is the core of gambling rehabilitation at Renewed Life Center, built around the cause: the depression, anxiety, trauma or drinking is treated alongside the betting, in the same house, through dual diagnosis care.
- CBT takes apart the “win it back” and “near miss” thinking.
- DBT teaches what to do with the urge at 1 a.m. without opening the app.
- Schema therapy and EMDR work on the older patterns and trauma the betting was numbing.
- Relapse prevention and the 12 steps prepare you for paydays and match weekends.
The programme is run by Nikki Edwards, Programme Director and Clinical Manager, who has 11 years in recovery herself. If you drink every day alongside the betting, do not stop suddenly on your own: message us first. A doctor examines you after you arrive, and if you need a detox, our medical team runs it.
We plan in months because the work comes in stages. In the first month you live at the centre, get steady and have group work every weekday, and your own counsellor works with you one-to-one every week. The second month goes deeper into what the gambling was covering. Every discharge includes a written relapse-prevention plan built for your home, and families join a support group by video every week.
Reading from the UK, the US or Ireland? We meet international clients at Cape Town International, and if you are still drinking when you travel, we can arrange for someone to travel with you, from home or from the airport.
Frequently asked questions about gambling addiction
Yes. Gambling disorder is a diagnosis in the DSM-5 and in the World Health Organization’s ICD-11. Sports betting is one form of it.
Yes. People stop and stay stopped with a plan for home. CBT reduces gambling behaviour, and treating the depression, anxiety or drinking underneath gives the change something to stand on.
Yes. For free gambling help, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation runs a toll-free counselling line on 0800 006 008. If the betting has come back after counselling, or comes with drinking or low mood, message us about residential treatment in Cape Town: we reply the same day, and the first call takes 20 to 40 minutes.
You pay us directly, with no claim forms. The fee depends on the programme and how long you stay; we give it on the first call and send it in writing the same day.
Residential treatment here runs in months; most clients stay into a second month, and your counsellor plans the length with you. Sober living can follow: you work or study by day and come back to a sober house in the evening.
Get gambling addiction help at Renewed Life Center
Gambling addiction help starts with one message, even if nobody else knows yet.
How you get here
A free first call
Confidential, by WhatsApp, video or phone, about what you bet on and what else is going on. You usually speak with John Roberts, Senior Recovery Specialist and Operations Manager, who has 39 years in recovery.
Clinical assessment
Forty-five to ninety minutes, covering the betting, drinking or drug use, mood and debts.
Admission
Can be immediate, and typically happens within three days of first contact.
If the betting is on your mind most days, that is enough to start the conversation.
Betting can stop running your life.
Tell us what you bet on and what it does for you. The first call is free, confidential and takes twenty to forty minutes, a partner or parent can make it, and admission typically happens within three days.
Writing for someone else? You do not need their permission to message us.
or call +27 79 880 0045
Rather we call you back? Leave your number
Sources
- Times Live, MPs told of challenges, 24 June 2026
- National Gambling Board, statistics 2024/25 and responsible gambling programme
- Daily Maverick, January 2026
- American Psychiatric Association; WHO ICD-11, 6C50
- Kristensen et al., 2024 (PubMed 38095933)
- Galeazzi et al., 2025
- Hing et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2017
- South African Responsible Gambling Foundation; Gamblers Anonymous South Africa; South African Depression and Anxiety Group
- Cochrane review, 2012; NICE NG248, 2025
This article is general information, not medical advice.