Limits and budgets
Decide on a session budget and a time limit before you start, and keep them separate from money you need for rent, bills or food. At a live table, leave the rest of your cash in the car or the hotel safe. Online, write the number down.
Every licensed online casino in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia lets you set limits in your account. Look for deposit limits, loss or wager limits, session time limits and cool-off periods. A limit only helps if raising it takes time, so check how long an increase needs to apply before you rely on it.
The bankroll management guide shows how fast different bets use up a budget.
Warning signs
Gambling has stopped being entertainment if any of these sound familiar:
- chasing losses by betting more to win them back
- spending more time or money than you planned, again and again
- borrowing money, or using money set aside for bills, to play
- hiding how much you gamble from family or friends
- feeling restless or irritable when you try to cut back
One sign is enough to take a break and talk to someone. The helplines below are free and confidential.
Self-exclusion in each state
Self-exclusion is a formal request to be barred from gambling. Each of the four states runs its own program, and once you are enrolled, licensed operators in that state must refuse your play and stop marketing to you.
New Jersey
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement runs a self-exclusion program covering the Atlantic City casinos and a separate one for internet gambling. You choose the length of the exclusion when you enroll, and the DGE explains the options and how to apply.
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board keeps self-exclusion lists for casinos and for online gambling. You can enroll for a set period or for life, and the Board’s Office of Compulsive & Problem Gambling explains how to enroll.
Michigan
The Michigan Gaming Control Board runs responsible gaming programs that include the Disassociated Persons List for Detroit’s casinos and a responsible gaming database for online play. Both mean licensed operators must keep you out.
West Virginia
West Virginia runs its own self-exclusion program for gambling in the state. The West Virginia Lottery Commission, which regulates the state’s casinos and online gaming, sets out how to enroll and the exclusion periods available.
Helplines and support
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help:
- New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia: call 1-800-GAMBLER, free and confidential, any time.
- Michigan: call the Michigan Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-270-7117.
- Pennsylvania: the Office of Compulsive & Problem Gambling at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board can be reached at 717-346-8300.
National resources are available from the National Council on Problem Gambling and from 800gambler.org, which is run by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey.
Practise without money
The free craps table on this site uses practice chips and no money, so it is a low-risk way to see how fast a $500 bankroll moves before you play for real. It shows the house edge on every bet and needs no sign-up, which makes it a fair place to test a limit before that limit costs anything.
Opting out of operator marketing
You can stop promotional emails, texts and push notifications from any licensed operator. Open the account settings and turn off marketing preferences, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email, or reply STOP to a promotional text. Customer support at the operator can also remove you from marketing lists. Self-exclusion in any of the four states stops marketing from that state’s operators as well.
If a craps session ever starts to feel like work, the chips on the rail are telling you something. When did you last stop at the number you set?