Gambling player protection rules differ enormously from one country to the next. Three things decide how much protection you actually get: whether there is a single national self-exclusion register, whether you are forced to set a deposit limit before you can play, and what the regulator makes operators do when your losses climb. On all three, the gap between the strictest and the loosest licensed markets is wide.
This page compares 15 jurisdictions using only regulator and legislation sources. It also covers Brazil, which changed direction completely in September 2026.
Rules current as of 9 October 2026. Gambling law moves fast. Every claim below links to the regulator or statute that states it, so you can check whether it has changed since.
The three questions that matter
Marketing talk about "responsible gambling" is cheap. These three questions separate real protection from a tick-box exercise.
- Is there one register that blocks you everywhere? A per-operator block is easy to walk around. A national register is not.
- Must you set a deposit limit, or is it merely offered? This is the single sharpest difference between markets. A limit you have to decline is far more effective than one you have to find.
- What happens as losses rise? Some regulators force the operator to intervene at a stated figure. Most do not.
National self-exclusion registers compared
"National register" means very different things in practice. Some cover land-based venues as well as online. Some let a family member apply on your behalf. Some do not exist at all.
| Jurisdiction | Register | Covers | Who can register you | Shortest / default term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | GAMSTOP | Online only (betting shops via a separate scheme) | Self | 6 months |
| Ireland | Legislated, not yet operating | Remote only, when it starts | Self | Indefinite |
| Sweden | Spelpaus | Online and agent-based land-based | Self | 10 days |
| Denmark | ROFUS | Online and land-based casinos/betting | Self only | 24 hours |
| Norway | Operator-level (monopoly model) | Norsk Tipping channels | Self | Varies |
| Finland | Planned under the 2027 reform | Not yet in force | Not yet set | Not yet set |
| Netherlands | CRUKS | Online, arcades and casinos | Self, or a relative/employer via the regulator | 6 months |
| Germany | OASIS | All gambling forms, nationwide | Self, operator, or relatives | 3 months (self) / 1 year default |
| Spain | RGIAJ | Licensed online and regulated venues | Self, third party, or court order | Indefinite, 6 months minimum |
| Italy | RUA | Remote gambling | Self only (via SPID) | 30 days |
| Belgium | EPIS | Licensed gambling | Self or someone close to you | Not stated publicly |
| Malta | None | Per operator only | Self or operator | No minimum set |
| Australia | BetStop | Online and phone wagering only | Self only | 3 months |
| Ontario, Canada | BetGuard | Regulated online sites, including OLG | Self | 6 months |
| United States | State lists, no federal register | Varies; often split by product | Self | Varies by state |
Some details behind that table are worth spelling out.
The strong ones
Germany’s OASIS is the broadest in scope. It is described by the regulator as a nationwide instrument that works across gambling forms, and it is run by the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt rather than the federal gambling authority. Its own registration page confirms a block can be requested by the player, by operators, or by third parties such as relatives and partners, under § 8a GlüStV 2021. The statutory minimum is one year, but a self-excluder may name a shorter period that cannot be under three months (§ 8a (6)). The GGL also describes a panic button giving an immediate 24-hour block.
The Netherlands’ CRUKS covers online and land-based in one registration, lasts at least six months and defaults to two years if no period is chosen, per the official registration leaflet. A partner, family member or employer can ask the regulator to register someone else, but only where they can show harm and that other help has not worked, and the Kansspelautoriteit decides, taking advice from addiction specialists. Note: the official register is at cruksregister.nl. Sites using similar names are not the register.
Sweden’s Spelpaus is run by the regulator itself and cannot be reversed: "Du kan inte ångra eller avsluta en avstängning i förtid." You choose 10 days, 1, 3 or 6 months, or until further notice, and an indefinite exclusion can only be ended after 12 months. Operators must also stop marketing to you.
Australia’s BetStop launched on 21 August 2023 and runs from three months to life. It can be cancelled early, but only after three months and only with a statutory declaration confirming you have had counselling or advice from a qualified professional. Accounts are closed rather than frozen. It covers online and phone wagering only, and the official site is explicit that it "does not apply to online casino games or other gambling services that are illegally provided in Australia".
The weak ones
Malta has no national register at all. This is the most under-reported fact in European gambling regulation, and the regulator’s own rules admit it. The Player Protection Directive contains a proviso beginning "in the absence of a unified self-exclusion database for remote gaming operations" — drafting that only makes sense because no such database exists. Exclusion is per operator, and in some cases per brand. The Directive also sets no minimum exclusion length.
Ireland’s register is law but not switched on. The National Gambling Exclusion Register sits in Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. Neither commencement order has brought those sections into force, so as of today it does not exist. When it does, it will be remote-only, indefinite, and reversible only after six months.
The United States has no federal register. Lists are built state by state, and within a state they are often split by product. New Jersey’s rules require operators to screen against a self-exclusion list, a separate internet self-exclusion list and an exclusion list, as Chapter 69O sets out. The state’s request form offers one year, five years or lifetime, and one form covers New Jersey only.
Deposit and loss limits: must you, or may you?
This is where jurisdictions really part company. In most places the operator must offer a limit and you may decline it. In a few, you cannot play until a limit exists.
| Jurisdiction | Limit regime | Statutory amount | Delay on increases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | Compulsory: no play without a cross-operator limit | Normally max €1,000 per month, across all operators | 7 days |
| Sweden | Compulsory: player must set one for online play | No cap; set per day, week and month | 72 hours |
| Denmark | Compulsory: must be set before play starts | No cap; daily, weekly or monthly | 24 hours |
| Norway | Compulsory on higher-risk games; a total cap applies regardless | NOK 20,000/month (25+); NOK 5,000 (22–24); NOK 3,000 (20–21) | Not stated |
| Netherlands | Offered, with escalating duties above thresholds | €350/month (adults), €150 (18–23) before a contact moment | Not stated |
| Great Britain | Must be offered, and offered as the default choice | No cap; 24 hours, 7 days and 1 month options | 24 hours |
| Ireland | Facility must be provided; player chooses | No cap | Cannot be raised during the chosen period |
| Malta | Deposit or wagering limit must be offered | No cap | 24 hours |
| Spain | Operators must set limits; the decree names no figure | Not specified in RD 176/2023 | Not stated |
| Ontario, Canada | Must be offered; player chooses | No cap; 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month | 24 hours |
| Australia | No federal limit requirement | None at Commonwealth level | n/a |
| United States | State level; offer requirement, e.g. New Jersey | No cap | After the previous period expires |
Germany is the strictest. § 6c GlüStV 2021 states that the cross-operator deposit limit "darf grundsätzlich 1000 Euro im Monat nicht übersteigen", and that without a limit in place "darf eine Spielteilnahme nicht erfolgen" — no limit, no play. Because the limit follows the player rather than the account, opening more accounts does not raise it.
Sweden and Denmark compel the player too, but leave the amount open. Swedish law requires an online player to state an upper deposit limit, and the regulator’s legal position confirms limits must be set per day, week and month, with increases waiting at least 72 hours. The Danish Gambling Authority’s guidance is blunter still: "A player must set a deposit limit before play can commence", and no default amount may be suggested.
Great Britain sits just below that. Under RTS 12, limit-setting must be presented as the default choice and the system must require a deliberate action to decline it. That is stronger than a buried settings page, but weaker than a hard requirement.
Norway caps losses outright, which almost nowhere else does. Norsk Tipping’s own page states a total monthly loss limit of NOK 20,000, reduced to NOK 5,000 for players aged 22 to 24, NOK 3,000 for ages 20 to 21 and NOK 2,000 under 20. Individual games carry lower sub-limits, and six games also require a daily time limit of no more than 18 hours. This is a monopoly model, so one ceiling covers the whole legal market.
What happens as your losses climb
Two countries put a number on it. Most do not.
In the Netherlands, measures that took effect on 1 October 2024 set a monthly deposit limit of €350 for adults and €150 for young adults up to 24. Going above that is only possible after a mandatory contact moment that the player must initiate, in which the operator must warn about the risks and point to help and to CRUKS, as the Dutch government sets out. Separately, the regulator’s Beleidsregel verantwoord spelen 2024 requires an affordability check once net deposits pass €700 a month, or €300 for young adults, who the policy rule defines as aged 18 to 23 inclusive. Fail the check and further deposits are blocked for that calendar month.
In Spain, Real Decreto 176/2023 defines "intensive play" by figures: net weekly losses of €600 or more for three consecutive weeks, or €200 a week for three consecutive weeks for players aged 25 or under. That status triggers a notice within 24 hours, a monthly activity summary and a block on credit-card deposits. The decree also requires a session message at least every 60 minutes that the player must read before continuing.
Great Britain has published thresholds for financial risk assessments — stage one at net deposits above £5,000 in 24 hours for over-25s and £2,500 for under-25s, falling later to £1,000 in 24 hours or £3,000 over 90 days — but the Commission announced on 7 July 2026 only that it had decided on a staged approach. No start date has been confirmed, so these checks are not yet live.
Game design rules
Only a few regulators control how the games themselves behave. Slots are where this matters most, for reasons we cover in why slots are the highest-risk product.
| Jurisdiction | Minimum round length | Maximum stake per round | Autoplay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 5 seconds on average | €1 | Not permitted for virtual slots |
| Great Britain | 2.5 seconds | £5 (£2 for ages 18–24) | Banned |
| Spain | 3 seconds | Not published as a figure | Capped at 100 rounds |
| Denmark, Italy, Malta, Australia | Not found in primary sources | Not found | Not found |
Germany’s figures come straight from § 22a GlüStV 2021: "Ein Spiel muss durchschnittlich mindestens fünf Sekunden dauern" and "Der Einsatz darf einen Euro je Spiel nicht übersteigen". Spain’s three-second minimum and 100-round autoplay cap appear on the DGOJ’s own prevention page, which also bans guaranteed jackpots. Britain’s rules come from the Gambling Commission’s 2021 package and the 2025 stake limits.
Note the honest gaps in that table. We could not find published spin-speed or stake rules for online slots in Denmark, Italy, Malta or Australia from the regulators’ own documents. Rather than repeat figures from secondary sources, we have left those cells empty.
Advertising restrictions
Advertising rules are the most politically volatile part of gambling regulation, and the ones most often misreported.
- Italy has the strictest regime in Europe. Article 9 of the Decreto Dignità banned all gambling advertising, direct and indirect, on any medium from 14 July 2018, with sponsorship caught from 1 January 2019, as AGCOM’s guidelines confirm.
- Germany bans broadcast and internet advertising for virtual slots, online poker and online casino daily between 6am and 9pm, bars advertising immediately before or during live sport on the broadcasting channel, and prohibits sports-betting advertising using active athletes and officials (§ 5 GlüStV 2021).
- Spain confines television and radio gambling advertising to 1am–5am and bans sponsorship on sports shirts and kit (RD 958/2020). Important correction to a widely repeated claim: the articles banning welcome bonuses and the use of celebrities were annulled by Supreme Court judgments in April 2024, and the consolidated text marks them as such. Spain does still prohibit promotions aimed at self-excluded or at-risk players.
- Australia has passed the largest reform of 2026. The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Act 2026 received assent on 26 August 2026, and its substantive schedules commence on 1 January 2027. It bars wagering ads during live sport coverage, during school drop-off and pick-up windows on radio, caps television ads at three in any hour in daytime, bans ads on uniforms and at sporting venues, bans the use of athletes, celebrities and influencers, and prohibits promoting odds on broadcasts.
- Ireland has legislated a 5.30am to 9pm broadcast watershed in section 149 of the 2024 Act, and a ban on targeted inducements in section 157 — but neither section has been commenced, so neither applies yet.
- Sweden’s standard is plain moderation ("måttfullhet") under chapter 15 of the Gambling Act. A proposed tightening to "särskild måttfullhet" was consulted on but rejected by the Riksdag, so it is not Swedish law despite being very widely quoted as such.
- Norway bans marketing of any gambling not licensed in Norway, and since 2021 broadcasting law has let the media authority order distributors to block such advertising, as Lotteritilsynet explains.
- Ontario banned the use of athletes in igaming advertising from 28 February 2024 and prohibits advertising of inducements, bonuses and credits to the general public, under the AGCO’s standards.
The big one: Brazil has banned fixed-odds betting
Brazil opened a licensed fixed-odds betting market on 1 January 2025. It closed it again twenty-one months later.
Medida Provisória nº 1.394, de 25 de setembro de 2026 prohibits the operation, offer, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting lotteries throughout Brazil, physical or online, including by operators based abroad serving people in Brazil. Federal authorisations are extinguished 30 days after publication, with no refund of the licence fee and no compensation. Advertising, marketing and sponsorship are banned outright, with existing material to be removed within ten days. The measure repeals most of Law 14.790/2023, the law that created the regulated market.
Two cautions. First, a medida provisória is a provisional measure: it takes effect immediately but lapses unless Congress converts it into law, so this picture may change again. Second, the player protection rules built during the regulated period — including the requirement that bettors adopt loss and time limits at registration, mandatory facial recognition, a credit-card ban and a centralised self-exclusion platform run by the Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas — now rest on a largely repealed statute. Anyone with money in a Brazilian betting account should follow the official refund timetable rather than any operator’s own messaging.
Other recent changes worth knowing
- Ontario launched BetGuard, its centralised self-exclusion portal, in May 2026. It covers all regulated Ontario igaming sites including OLG’s, is open to anyone 19 and over, and offers 6-month, 1-year, 5-year or custom terms, per iGaming Ontario.
- Ireland’s regulator began licensing. The GRAI was established on 5 March 2025, and a commencement order effective 5 February 2026 let it start issuing licences — remote operators from 1 July 2026, in-person from 1 December 2026. A credit-card ban and the limit-setting duty are in force; the advertising watershed and inducement ban are not.
- Finland’s market opens on 1 July 2027. Licence applications opened on 1 March 2026 and Veikkaus keeps its monopoly until then, according to the Ministry of the Interior. All gambling will require identification, and players will have to set caps on transfers into their accounts.
- England changed who runs treatment. NHS England states that from 1 April 2026 it took commissioning responsibility for gambling-harms treatment in England, covering referral through to aftercare. The statutory levy funding this commenced in April 2025 and is collected by the Gambling Commission.
- The US helpline number changed. The National Council on Problem Gambling announced on 29 January 2026 that it had adopted 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738) as the national helpline number, and that existing access points including 1-800-522-4700 remain active. Most competing pages are still out of date on this.
What this means for you
Three practical conclusions.
Your licence matters more than your operator’s branding. A player on a German licence has a hard €1,000 monthly ceiling that follows them everywhere. A player on a Maltese licence has a limit only if they set one, and a self-exclusion that may not even carry across that company’s own brands. Same games, same logos, very different protection.
Set the limit before you need it. Every jurisdiction here delays increases and applies decreases immediately. That asymmetry is deliberate, and it only helps you if a limit exists in the first place. Our guide to deposit limits covers how to pick a figure.
Self-exclusion is the strongest tool you have, and in most of these markets it cannot be undone on a bad evening. That is the feature, not the flaw. Read the global self-exclusion guide for how each scheme works, and responsible gambling tools for everything short of it.
Common questions
Does self-excluding in one country block me in another?
No. Every scheme above stops at its own border, and most stop at its own licensed market. A GAMSTOP registration does not touch an operator licensed in Malta or Curaçao, and BetStop explicitly does not reach services provided illegally in Australia. If you gamble across several markets, you have to register in each one.
Which jurisdiction has the strongest player protection?
On the measures compared here, Germany and Norway. Germany combines a compulsory cross-operator deposit ceiling, a 5-second minimum spin, a €1 stake cap and a register that relatives can trigger. Norway caps monthly losses outright and lowers the cap for younger adults. Both achieve this partly by restricting choice, which is the trade-off.
How current is this page?
Every figure here was checked against the regulator’s or legislature’s own page on 9 October 2026, and we review this comparison quarterly. Where we could not verify something, we have said so rather than filled the gap. If you find an error, our corrections policy explains how we handle it.
Where to get help
Support is free and confidential wherever you are. In Great Britain, the National Gambling Helpline is 0808 8020 133, free and open 24 hours a day, every day (GamCare). In Australia, Gambling Help Online is 1800 858 858, free and available 24/7 (Gambling Help Online). In the United States, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738). Both of the first two numbers were checked today. For other countries, see our guide to getting help, and what responsible gambling means for the background.
Last reviewed: 9 October 2026. Sources checked on this date.