Responsible gambling
A welcome bonus is a marketing cost the operator expects to recover. Treat what you deposit as the price of the evening, not as an investment — and use the tools below before you need them, not after.
Get help now
- 1-800-GAMBLER — the National Problem Gambling Helpline. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day, in English and Spanish. Call 1-800-426-2537.
- National Council on Problem Gambling — helpline, chat and a directory of treatment near you.
- Gamblers Anonymous — meeting finder, in person and online.
- Gam-Anon — support for the family and friends of someone who gambles.
- 800gambler.org — the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, which runs the 1-800-GAMBLER line.
Set the limits on day one
Every operator listed on this site provides account controls. The time to use them is the day you register, while the decision is still an abstract one:
- Deposit limits — a daily, weekly or monthly ceiling. Increases usually take effect only after a cooling-off period; decreases take effect immediately.
- Loss and wager limits — a cap on what a period can cost you regardless of how much you deposited.
- Session reminders — a prompt telling you how long you have been playing. Time passes strangely in a casino lobby; this is the cheapest correction available.
- Time-out — locks the account for a short period, typically 24 hours to six weeks.
- Self-exclusion — closes the account for months or years and cannot be reversed on a change of mind. If you are reading this section twice, this is the one.
Signs worth taking seriously
- Playing with money set aside for rent, bills, food or debt.
- Depositing again the same day to win back a loss.
- Borrowing, selling or hiding money to keep playing.
- Playing longer or later than intended, and being unable to stop when you decide to.
- Lying about the time or the money to people close to you.
- Feeling anxious, low or irritable when you are not playing.
None of these mean you have to solve it alone, and the helpline above is not only for a crisis. It answers questions about limits, budgets and blocking software too.
Blocking software
If the account controls are not enough, blocking software works at the device level, across every gambling site at once: Gamban installs on every device you own and blocks gambling sites and apps at once. Many US banks and card issuers will also block gambling transactions on request — ask support, it is a standard setting rather than a favour.
Under 21
Essens is for adults aged 21 and over and we ask on entry. If you share a device with someone under 21, parental control software — FamiSafe, Qustodio and the controls built into iOS and Android — will keep gambling sites off it.
What we will not do
We do not publish "systems", "guaranteed" strategies or anything implying a house edge can be beaten, and we do not run countdowns or scarcity messages designed to hurry a deposit. If you think something on this site crosses that line, tell us at info@essens.click and it comes down.