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You play longer or more often than you meant to.
Espacejeux/Responsible gambling
Responsible gambling
Gambling should stay a pastime whose limits you set yourself. This page brings together the tools for that, what each one actually does, and who to turn to if gambling takes up too much room.
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Account tools
Gambling limits
Cap what you deposit, what you can lose and how long a session runs.
Details
Breaks
Suspend access from 24 hours to a few weeks without closing the account.
Details
Self-exclusion
From 3 months to 5 years, irreversible for the period chosen.
Details
Help and referral
Confidential provincial line, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
1-800-461-0140
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What to know
A lottery cannot be caught up with
Every draw is independent of the last. A number drawn yesterday is neither more nor less likely tomorrow, and a run of losing plays brings nobody closer to a win. Systems that promise otherwise do not exist.
The only amount you control is the one you decide to stake. That is why the deposit limit is set during registration, before the first bet, rather than at the moment you feel the need for it.
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Warning signs
Six situations worth stopping at
None of these sentences is a diagnosis. But if several sound like you, it is worth talking to someone — the help line is free and confidential.
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You raise your stakes to win back money you lost.
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You borrow money, or take it from a budget meant for something else.
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You hide from people close to you how much you play.
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You think about gambling at work, at meals or at night.
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Stopping leaves you irritable or anxious.
Gambling: help and referral — 1-800-461-0140. Provincial service, free, confidential, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in French and English. You can call for yourself or for someone close to you. The service also offers chat, a self-assessment questionnaire and a directory of resources by region: jeu-aidereference.qc.ca (opens in a new window)
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Take stock of your habits
A confidential self-assessment questionnaire takes a few minutes and gives a steadier reading than a gut feeling. It does not diagnose anything — it tells you whether the subject is worth raising with someone.
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Write to the responsible gambling team
For a question about limits, a break or self-exclusion — including on behalf of someone close to you — write with “responsible gambling” in the subject line. Requests of this kind are handled first.
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Protection of minors
Accounts are closed to anyone under 18
Age is checked when the account is opened and confirmed during identity validation. An account opened with false information is closed, and bets placed on it carry no right to any prize.
On a shared device, do not leave your session open and do not save your password in the browser.
To block access to gambling sites from a family device: the parental controls built into Windows, macOS, iOS and Android are enough in most cases; Qustodio and Net Nanny cover several devices at once. Filtering is set up once, on the device, and depends on no website.
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Gambling limits
Gambling limits
A limit is not a punishment. It is a decision made with a clear head that still holds when the head is not clear. You set it once, during registration, and you can tighten it at any time afterwards.
1. Deposit limit
The weekly deposit limit caps how much you can move into your account over seven consecutive days. It is set between $25 and $9,999 and must be chosen during registration, before the first bet.
The count covers the total of all deposits, whatever the payment method. Once the ceiling is reached, no further deposit is accepted until the period ends — there is no one-off exception, by phone or through customer service.
The limit applies to deposits, not to bets. A balance already in the account can still be staked even when the weekly ceiling is reached. If that is what you want to control, the loss limit is the one to set.
2. Loss limit
The loss limit caps the gap between what you stake and what comes back over a given period. Unlike the deposit limit, it counts prizes received: an evening where you stake $200 and get $150 back counts as $50 in losses.
Once the ceiling is reached, bets are refused until the period ends, but the account stays open: you can still view your results, your statements and your settings.
3. Time limit
The time limit works on session length rather than money. Past the number of minutes you set, the session ends and you have to log back in deliberately to continue.
This setting earns its keep on fast products — instant tickets and frequent draws — where the sense of elapsed time slips easily. A quiet reminder also appears before the allotted time runs out.
4. Why an increase waits
A decrease applies immediately. An increase only takes effect after a waiting period.
The asymmetry is deliberate. The moment you want to raise a limit is rarely a calm one: it usually follows a loss, when the urge to win it back is strongest. The delay moves the decision from one state of mind to another. If the intention still holds the next day, it applies; if not, nothing happened.
5. Changing a limit
All three limits are set under “My account”, in the gambling tools section. Every change is recorded with its date, and the history stays visible — useful for spotting a pattern of raising ceilings month after month.
No limit can be removed outright: the weekly deposit ceiling is mandatory and cannot exceed $9,999, whatever the account history.
6. When a limit is not enough
When adjusting a ceiling stops making a difference, firmer measures exist: a break suspends access for a short period, and self-exclusion blocks it from three months to five years, with no way back before the end date.
To talk it through with someone: Gambling: help and referral — 1-800-461-0140, free and confidential, 24 hours a day.
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Breaks
Breaks
The break is the lightest tool in the set: it cuts access for a while, then hands it back on its own. It suits a week where gambling took up more room than you wanted, without committing you to years.
1. What a break is
A break temporarily suspends your access to the gambling account. The account is not closed, the balance stays intact, and nothing needs to be done to get it back at the end date.
You start one under “My account”. It takes effect immediately, including if a session is open at that moment.
2. Available lengths
- 24 hours — to break off an evening that is stretching out.
- 7 days — to cut a habit that is setting in.
- 30 days — to step back across a full month.
- Up to 6 weeks — the maximum for a break; beyond that, self-exclusion applies.
A break in progress cannot be cut short. That is what separates it from simply logging out: the decision holds for the period you chose.
3. What gets blocked
During the break you cannot log in, deposit, place a bet or buy a ticket. Commercial messages are suspended for the same period.
A prize won before the break began is still owed. If it is credited during the suspension, it waits for you and remains claimable within the usual deadline — one year from the draw date.
4. When the break ends
Access returns by itself at the end date, with no extra confirmation. Your deposit, loss and time limits are kept exactly as they were: a break does not reset them.
If the urge to start again is immediate and strong the moment the break ends, that is usually the signal for a longer measure rather than another break.
5. Break or self-exclusion
A break reverses itself with time — it simply finishes. Self-exclusion lasts from three months to five years, is irreversible for the period chosen, and extends to gaming halls and casinos.
A simple rule: if you are hesitating between the two, the question is no longer how long to pause for. Talk it through on the Gambling: help and referral line — 1-800-461-0140.
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Self-exclusion
Self-exclusion
Self-exclusion is the firmest measure the operator offers. It exists because there comes a point where the best possible setting is no access at all — and where that decision has to be protected against yourself.
1. What self-exclusion is
It is a voluntary request to have your access to gambling blocked for a set period. Once recorded, it prevents logging in, any deposit and any bet, and bars opening a new account for the duration.
2. Length and scope
The period is chosen at enrolment and runs from three months to five years. It covers every product offered online: lotteries, instant tickets and any other game reachable from the account.
The scope goes beyond this site. A self-exclusion taken at one of the corporation’s gaming halls or casinos automatically blocks the online account, for the period chosen and without any step on your part. The reasoning is plain: an exclusion that left one door open would protect nobody.
3. Why it cannot be undone
Enrolment is irreversible. It cannot be cancelled, shortened or suspended before the end date, whatever reason is given, and no employee has the power to make an exception.
This is not administrative stiffness. An exclusion you can lift on a weak evening protects nobody. So take the time to choose the length before confirming: it is the only moment when the choice is still yours.
4. How to enrol
- Open “My account”, then the responsible gambling tools.
- Choose the length of the exclusion.
- Confirm: a screen sets out the exact scope and the irreversible nature of the request.
- A notice is sent to you by email, with the start and end dates.
You can also enrol through customer service at 1-866-611-5686, or in person at a gaming establishment.
5. Balance and prizes in progress
The balance available when the exclusion starts is returned to you under the procedure set out in the Specific Online Gaming Conditions of Use. Tickets already bought for upcoming draws stay valid, and a prize won is still owed.
A prize of $25,000 or more is claimed in person with valid ID, within one year of the draw date — this applies during an exclusion as well.
6. At the end date
Access is not restored automatically. You have to ask for it, and a cooling-off period applies before the account is reactivated. The limits in force before the exclusion are restored as they were.
7. For someone close to you
Self-exclusion can only be requested by the person concerned: nobody can enrol somebody else. That said, if someone else’s gambling worries you, the provincial line also answers families.
Gambling: help and referral — 1-800-461-0140, free, confidential, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.