Help and advice
working closely together
If gambling is increasingly dominating other areas of your life such as family and career and your leisure pursuits are becoming a strain, your gambling behaviour may be becoming problematic or may develop into an illness. Gambling addiction is recognised as an illness. This means that affected individuals and their family are entitled to free-of-charge help and advice.
Responsible Gambling
To avoid problems with gambling, follow these tips.
Use gambling as a form of entertainment and not to earn money. The providers of the games want to make their own money from them. That’s why they never give more money to the player than they receive. In the end, it’s the player who loses money.
Before playing, decide upon a daily, weekly or monthly amount of money that you’ll allow yourself to gamble with. Stick to your limit – even if you lose! In this way, you can keep the financial side of your gambling under control and prevent yourself from gradually investing more and more money.
Take frequent breaks from playing and decide how long you want to play for before you begin. Do not exceed your time limit, even if you lose! In this way you can control how much time you are investing in gambling.
Ration your money and only play with the amount you determined earlier. Ask for your winnings to be paid out and don’t put them into another game. This will help you to retain an overview.
Accept that you have lost and don’t try to balance out the money you have lost by gambling more. In this way you will avoid the risk of losing control over your gambling behaviour and suffering even greater losses.
When you are gambling, be aware of your own feelings. A bad mood can have a negative effect on your gambling behaviour – for example, you might make larger bets. Do not try to distract yourself from problems with the help of gambling.
Keep a clear head while gambling. Gambling when under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication can lead to heavy losses, as this influences your ability to make judgements.
Ensure that gambling does not become your main hobby. Ensure that you pursue other activities in your free time so that gambling doesn’t take up too much of your life.
Don’t allow minors to gamble; don’t place bets or wagers on their behalf. Don’t involve minors in gambling. Protecting children and young people is so important because they cannot yet completely assess their own behaviour.
If you have the feeling that you have lost control over your gambling, take some time out from gambling. You can ask the provider to ban you.
Options for banning
The gambling ban is a central instrument in protecting players and combating gambling addiction. It allows for the prohibition on playing in arcades, casinos, sports betting offices and lottery outlets. There are various forms of bans.
- This is requested by the person wishing to be banned and is for their own protection.
- Valid for at least one year.
- Berlin arcades
- Lotto Berlin
- Berliner Spielbank
- Bookies
- This can be requested by third parties (e.g. family members, friends etc.).
- Certain prerequisites must apply to the endangered person and must be documented (e.g. risk as a result of addiction, indebtedness, financial problems as a result of gambling).
- Prior to being entered in the ban file, the affected person is given the option of making a statement.
- Berliner Spielbank
- Lotto Berlin
Our messenger consultant
for gambling concerns
for affected individuals and their family members
+ 49 (0)152-56180285
- Monday to Friday
- Response within 24 hours
- Our advice is free of charge and anonymous if requested.
- We adhere to the duty of confidentiality, meaning that data is not passed on to third parties.
- Info card, info flyer and terms of use
Our initial consultation
on-site
Initial consultations are temporarily only possible following prior arrangement.
- Monday & Wednesday: 14:00-18:00
- Tuesday & Friday: 09:00-13:00
- Thursday: 12:00-16:00
- Individual appointments can be made by telephone, email or Messenger
Präventionsprojekt Glücksspiel | pad gGmbH
Charlottenburger Str. 2
13086 Berlin
Telefon: 030 – 84 52 21 12
Telefax: 030 – 84 52 21 17
Messenger: 0152 – 56 18 02 85
You can reach the Prevention Project: Gambling [Präventionsprojekt Glücksspiel] on the tram line M13, M4 and 12 (Station: Antonplatz) or using bus line 158 and 255 (Station: Woelkpromenade).
Other points of contact
You can download an overview of all the support available here.
Check your gambling
Provided by the Federal Centre for Health Education [BZgA].
- Advice programmes for people affected and their relatives
- Chat and e-mail counseling for affected people and their relatives
Online self-help programme for gambling
Provided by the Brandenburg Ministry for Health, the BLS and salus clinics.
- Self-help programme for gamblers who wish to reduce their gambling or stop completely
These programmes are only available in German.
Online advice for gambling addiction
Provided by the NRW State Coordination Department for Gambling Addiction.
- advice for affected individuals and their relatives in German and Turkish
PlayOff App for Android and iOS
Provided by the Bavarian Department for Gambling Addiction.
- app programme for gamblers who wish to reduce their gambling or stop completely
- free-of-charge
Sekis
A service from the Selbsthilfe Kontakt- und Informationsstelle Berlin.
- database for self-help groups in Berlin, including gambling
- different languages available
In einer Spirale nach oben (“A spiral upwards”)
A service from the Niedersächsische Landesstelle für Suchtfragen (NLS).
- self-help guide for the reduction of personal gambling behaviour
- the self-help guide is only available in German
Games of chance and gambling problems
A service from AG Spielsucht at Charité Berlin.
- self-help manual
- covers five topic areas, including the assessment of the own gambling behavior
- the self-help guide is only available in German
“Don’t squander my life” – Relief programme for family members
Provided by the Bavarian Department for Gambling Addiction.
- online programme specifically for family members
- a total of six different modules
- free-of-charge and anonymous
- the online programme is only available in German
Telephone help-line in German
Provided by the Federal Centre for Health Education [BZgA].
Tel.: 0800/1372700
- telephone advice available throughout Germany on the topic of gambling
- advice for affected individuals and their family members
- anonymous and free-of-charge
… in Turkish
Provided by Landeskoordinierungsstelle Glücksspielsucht NRW, BZgA and the Landesstelle Glücksspielsucht in Bavaria.
Tel.: 0800-32 64 762 | free of charge
… in Russian
Provided by STEP gGmbH.
Tel.: 0511-70 14 664 | free of charge
Provided by the Caritasverband for Erzbistum Berlin e.V.
Tel: 0162 – 274 56 12 | free of charge
… in Polish
Provided by Caritasverband for Erzbistum Osnabrück.
Tel.: 01590 455 60 46 | free of charge
… in Arabic
Provided by Caritasverband for Erzbistum Berlin e.V.
Tel: 0173 565 36 22 | free of charge
