Gambling blocking software is an app you install on your own phone, tablet or computer that stops those devices reaching gambling websites and apps. It is not the same thing as self-exclusion, and it is not a cure. What it does is put a locked door between you and a decision you may not want to make at 2am.
Three products dominate the English-speaking market: BetBlocker, which is free forever and run by a registered charity; Gamban, which charges a subscription but is handed out free by some US states; and GamBlock, which is the most aggressive of the three and the hardest to remove. This page compares what each one actually claims, what independent testing found, and what none of them can do.
What gambling blocking software actually does
All three products work in roughly the same way. Once installed on a device, they sit between your browser and the internet and refuse to load gambling sites. Most also block gambling apps, or prevent new ones being installed. The important part is the bit people skip: once a block is switched on, you are supposed to be unable to switch it off again until the period you chose has run out.
That one-way lock is the whole point. A setting you can undo in ten seconds is not protection; it is a speed bump. This is the same logic behind the cooling-off periods built into licensed operators’ own responsible gambling tools.
BetBlocker, Gamban and GamBlock compared
Figures below come from each provider’s own site, checked on the review date at the foot of this page. Claims about blocking strength are the vendors’ own unless stated otherwise.
| BetBlocker | Gamban | GamBlock | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free. “Absolutely nothing. Ever.” | US pricing listed as $6.99 a month or $41.99 a year, after a 7-day free trial. Free in some US states. | Not published on the pages we could load. Site mentions single and multiple licences and multi-device discounts. |
| Run by | A charity registered in Scotland, number SC049565. Founded 2017, charity since 2019. | Gamban LTD, a commercial company. | Not named on the site. States it is funded by customers, not gambling operators. |
| Scale claimed | Over 1,077,600 gambling websites and 3,100+ apps. | “Tens of thousands of gambling websites and apps worldwide.” | No list size given: uses heuristic analysis instead of a list. |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Fire OS, AppGallery. Unlimited installs. | “All major device platforms”; one licence covers all your devices. | Windows, Apple devices, Samsung and other Android. |
| Block lengths | 14 options from 1 day to 5 years, plus scheduled “calendared” blocks. | Not published as fixed periods; runs with the subscription. | Not published on the pages we could load. |
| Early removal | No. Once started, “it cannot be lifted before the end of the selected restriction period.” Support will not override it. | Not addressed on the site. | Claims removal is impossible, including surviving a factory reset. |
| Personal data | No registration. “No personal information is collected about our users.” | Account required. | Not stated. |
BetBlocker: free, anonymous, surprisingly complete
BetBlocker is a charity registered in Scotland. Its registration can be checked independently: the Scottish charity regulator’s register entry for SC049565 lists BetBlocker as an active registered charity from 23 August 2019. It grew out of the gambling dispute service ThePOGG in 2017 and became an independent charity in 2019. It is free, carries no advertising, and asks for no personal information — you can use it anonymously, and an email address is only needed if you want a reply from support.
Its own figures are large: over 1,077,600 gambling websites and more than 3,100 apps on the block list, with versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Fire OS and Huawei’s AppGallery, and unlimited installs across devices.
Two features set it apart. First, the restriction periods are unusually fine-grained: one day, two days, three days, five days, a week, two weeks, one month, two, three, six, a year, two years, three years or five. Second, there is a “calendared” block, which schedules restrictions to switch on and off at set times — useful for someone whose risky hours are predictable.
And it holds the door shut. BetBlocker states that once a restriction has begun, “it cannot be lifted before the end of the selected restriction period”, and that its support team will not disable an active restriction for you. You can extend a block. You cannot beg your way out of one.
Gamban: paid, polished, free in some states
Gamban is a commercial product from Gamban LTD. It describes a multi-layered approach blocking “tens of thousands of gambling websites and apps worldwide”, installable on all major platforms, with one licence covering all of a user’s devices.
Its US pricing page lists $6.99 billed monthly or $41.99 billed annually, after a seven-day free trial. The subscription also bundles progress monitoring, what Gamban calls layered self-exclusion, and technical support.
The thing Gamban does not publish clearly is what happens if you want out. There is no statement on its main pages about whether a block can be lifted early or how hard the app is to uninstall. For a tool whose value depends entirely on being difficult to remove, that is a real gap. Ask before you pay, if that matters to you — and it should.
GamBlock: the heavy option
GamBlock takes a different technical route. Rather than matching sites against a list, it says it uses “sophisticated analyses” and heuristics to recognise gambling content, which it argues lets it block new sites before any list catches up. It also claims to block gambling access while the Tor browser is in use, to stop gambling apps installing, and that it “cannot be circumvented by using a VPN like UltraSurf on Windows.”
Its removal claims are the strongest of the three, and the most worth reading twice before you install it. GamBlock says its Apple app “survives a factory reset”, that its Android apps “block factory reset”, and that on Windows it blocks factory reset “whether by Reset this PC, System Restore or any other method”. It concludes: “In short, removal cannot happen.”
We have not tested any of that, and neither, as far as we can find, has anyone independent in recent years. Treat it as a vendor claim. It is also a reason for caution rather than reassurance if the device is shared, work-issued, or one you will want to sell. GamBlock does not name an operating company on its site, and says it is funded by its customers rather than by gambling operators.
Does blocking software actually work?
The best independent evidence is also old, which is itself worth knowing. In 2018, JR Consulting and Winning Moves carried out an evaluation of online blocking software for GambleAware. It tested six packages — three gambling-specific ones, named in the report as GamBlock, Betfilter and Gamban, plus three general content blockers — against 2,417 websites linked to British licences, and later against 121 illegal, offshore and cryptocurrency gambling sites.
Its headline conclusion was that “blocking software appears to be generally effective in restricting access to online gambling”. The detail is more interesting:
- No package blocked everything. The strongest gambling-specific result was around 95% of licensed sites (99% after adjusting for sites where gambling was not actually possible). The weakest blocked about 59%.
- Big operators were always blocked. Every gambling-specific package blocked the largest British operators.
- Illegal and crypto sites were the weak point. Blocking of illegal sites ranged from 84% to 98%. Cryptocurrency gambling sites were blocked only 54.8% to 79.3% of the time.
- General-purpose blockers over-blocked. The non-gambling packages also blocked helpful content, including support resources. The gambling-specific ones did not.
- Nobody treated it as a standalone fix. Stakeholders recommended pairing software with therapy and self-exclusion. Cost, covering several devices and difficult uninstallation were named as barriers.
The report is honest about its own limits, and so should anyone citing it be. Testing was done on desktop operating systems, with mobile apps only spot-checked. Some versions tested were already out of date at publication. The user survey had 41 responses, mostly people referred by treatment providers. And the authors state plainly: “We could not attempt to assess how many people software works or does not work for.”
So the fair summary is this: blocking software reliably shuts the front door on mainstream licensed gambling, is patchier on offshore and crypto sites, and has never been tested in a way that tells us whether it changes outcomes for the people using it. That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason not to rely on it alone.
How to get blocking software free
BetBlocker is free to everyone, everywhere, with no conditions. That is the simplest answer and for many people it is the right one.
Beyond that, some public bodies buy licences on residents’ behalf. The clearest example is Michigan. The Michigan Gaming Control Board offers free Gamban licences to Michigan residents, starting at a free one-year licence with “options ranging from one to five years at no cost”. When it expanded the scheme on 21 May 2026, the board added 100 more licences and said more than 80 of the first 100 had been claimed within two weeks. Enrolment in a self-exclusion programme is not required.
Gamban’s own site also advertises that it is free for all Ohio residents through Time Out Ohio. We could not confirm that from the state side: the Time Out Ohio pages describe the voluntary exclusion programme itself — bans of one year, five years or life from Ohio casinos, racinos and sports betting — without mentioning blocking software. If you are in Ohio, it is worth asking the programme directly rather than assuming either way.
In Britain, GamCare lists both BetBlocker and Gamban on its blocking software page, noting only that “Some of these are available for free, some might ask you to pay” and that it “cannot be held responsible if there is a problem with the software you choose”. That is a listing, not an endorsement, and GamCare is right to make the distinction.
What blocking software cannot do
This is the part that gets people into trouble, because the gaps are not obvious until you fall through one.
- It is not self-exclusion. Blocking software stops your device reaching a site. It does not tell the operator anything, does not close your account, and does not stop marketing emails. Formal exclusion is a separate step — see our complete global self-exclusion guide and, for the United States, why there is no national list.
- It only protects the devices you install it on. A work laptop, an old tablet in a drawer, a games console or someone else’s phone are all open doors. Install everywhere, or the exercise is decorative.
- It does nothing about land-based gambling. Betting shops, casinos and machines are untouched.
- It does not block the money. Card blocks are a bank feature, not a software one. GamCare describes bank gambling blocks as “free tools offered by most UK banks”, working by blocking transactions categorised as gambling, applied per card, with a cooling-off delay of usually 48 or 72 hours before a block you switch off takes effect (GamCare, bank gambling blocks). Ask your own bank what it offers.
- Coverage of offshore and crypto sites is weaker, as the GambleAware testing showed. Anyone actively hunting for a way around will sometimes find one.
Built-in device controls are not a substitute
Phones and computers already have content restrictions, and people reasonably ask why they should install anything extra. Apple’s Screen Time, for instance, can limit adult websites, allow or block specific apps and websites, block app installation, and is protected by a Screen Time passcode.
Useful, but it was built for parents, not for a person protecting themselves from themselves. The lists are generic rather than gambling-specific, there is no fixed restriction period you cannot shorten, and whoever knows the passcode can undo it in seconds — which, if that is you, means everyone who needs to be stopped already has the key. The honest use for device controls is as a second layer, or as something a trusted person sets with a passcode you never learn.
Setting it up so it actually holds
- Count your devices first. Phone, work phone, laptop, work laptop, tablet, console, smart TV, the old handset in the kitchen drawer. Write the list down.
- Pick a long period, now. Not because a week will not help, but because the moment you are calm enough to install the app is the moment you will choose the shortest option. BetBlocker’s five-year setting exists for a reason.
- Do the exclusion paperwork the same day. Software plus formal self-exclusion is the pairing the 2018 evaluation’s stakeholders recommended. Neither alone.
- Ask your bank about a gambling block while you are in the mood for admin, and set it on every card separately.
- Tell someone you have done it. It makes quietly undoing it harder, which is the point.
Which one should you choose?
On the published evidence, a plain reading looks like this. Start with BetBlocker if cost matters at all, if you want no account and no data trail, or if you want a specific locked period rather than an open-ended subscription. It is free, it is run by a charity rather than a company, and its no-early-release rule is the clearest stated of the three.
Choose Gamban if you are a Michigan resident and can get it at no cost, or if you want the extra monitoring and support that come with a paid subscription and do not mind paying for them.
Consider GamBlock if previous blocks have not held and you genuinely want software that is designed to be impossible to remove — accepting that this is the vendor’s claim, that it is a serious commitment on a device you may later want to reset, and that you should not install it on hardware you do not own.
Whichever you install, the software is the easy part of the job. If gambling has reached the point where you are reading comparison tables of blocking apps, the step-by-step guide to getting help is the more useful page, and our explainer on what responsible gambling means sets out where tools like these fit in the wider picture. The glossary of responsible gambling terms decodes the rest of the jargon.
Need to talk to someone? In the United States, call or text the National Problem Gambling Helpline on 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), free and 24/7. Elsewhere, our global directory of gambling helplines lists the verified number for your country.
Last reviewed: 10 October 2026. Sources checked on this date.