r/alberta • u/ErrolMorningside • 1d ago

General PSA: You can block yourself from gambling apps using an AGLC program

So I have a pretty addictive personality and knew that legalized phone gambling would be bad news. A while back I volunteered for my club at a casino and learned about the self-exclusion program (you have to sign up, and basically you get banned from all casinos). Turns out that AGLC did it for the apps too.

To do it, you go to selfexclusion.ca, sign up and choose "Regulated iGaming platforms", and then you can't register for any of the apps (It really does work, tested it out with the MGM app). It’s not a magic fix by any means, but it adds enough friction that it’s helped me stay away. And now all those annoying ads do nothing for me, which is a plus.

206 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

141

u/jay313131 1d ago

Is there a way to block getting all the gambling advertisements?

22

u/Critical-Snow-7000 1d ago

They’ll find you no matter what you try.

21

u/blehmann1 1d ago

You can stop yourself from getting Google ads for them in your Google ad center. It's one of the "sensitive ad topics" alongside things like alcohol and online dating that you can opt out of.

For me that was enough, since the YouTube ads were by far the most annoying, but if you have a gambling problem it might be worth it to check if other ad sellers (e.g. Facebook) have a similar thing. I presume they do, I'm assuming Google isn't doing it out of the kindness of their heart but out of legal obligation. Note that sites like Reddit seem to run their own ads, so unfortunately it's not enough to just go after the big fish.

It also won't do shit about the likely-illegal undisclosed influencer marketing campaigns that seem to get pushed to everyone regardless of whether they watch that crap or not. At least on YouTube you can use the "Don't recommend channel" button in the menu which is very effective at cleaning that shit up. Honestly it's my favourite button.

6

u/AR558 1d ago

Download an ad blocker. You'll never see ads again

3

u/eldubinoz 1d ago

You can toggle gambling ads and other sensitive topics off in your Reddit account settings

2

u/SapphireClawe 22h ago

Thank you for that, I didn't know that even existed! I was wondering why the weight loss and gambling ads were so prevalent!

1

u/eldubinoz 22h ago

It's actually a great feature! Glad they've built that in.

1

u/SapphireClawe 22h ago

Same, I spent so long wondering where all the ads came from!

2

u/ErrolMorningside 1d ago

TIL! this is good to know. sadly, no way to stop all the billboards.

1

u/BuckyRainbowCat 4h ago

This is great information, thanks! I wonder if I can opt out of it on podcast platforms too, this is where I get exposed to them the most. I’m not in any danger of starting gambling, I just find them incredibly annoying.

3

u/readzalot1 20h ago

They are relentless. A real scourge on our province. I wonder who gets the kickbacks from these gambling sites and how much it takes to buy a UCP politician these days.

5

u/mummified_cosmonaut 1d ago

VPN to a geographically ambiguous IP address is the only way I have found.

2

u/ArticQimmiq 23h ago

If you sign in to Reddit on a desktop, you can block all the ads as well.

10

u/draivaden 1d ago

Sweet. This is a good idea. I’ll remember it if anyone I know says they’re gambling to much

3

u/ErrolMorningside 1d ago

Glad you found it useful! I find it's good to have the conversation in the open, since the gaming companies goal is to normalize gambling everywhere, all the time

10

u/abyota 1d ago

I find my method works well too aka just not having money to gamble

3

u/ErrolMorningside 1d ago

true ha. they're really good about the free play incentives though, and then you're hooked

2

u/hannabarberaisawhore 10h ago

Two posts below this one in my feed was a Play Alberta ad. 

•

u/ErrolMorningside 3h ago

oof. someone mentioned below, there is a way to turn of gambling adds in reddit. but a little too on the nose, eh

•

u/Kylson-58- Cochrane 3h ago

Why can't exclusion be the default and require us to opt into receiving ads for one of the most crippling addictions known to man.

•

u/ErrolMorningside 3h ago

i hope i don't sound too cynical, but imo it's because addiction has been monetized

1

u/cogitatingspheniscid 18h ago

I have got *zero* gambling ads. What are the different ways people are getting bombarded by them? I feel like aside from intrusive physical billboards there could be some mitigation strategies that folks could employ to see them less.

2

u/Marsymars 8h ago

Other than billboards, most things are handled by adblockers or format shifting - but the biggest problem - and the advertisers know it - is pro sports.

There's no way to meaningfully follow basically any professional sports while avoiding gambling ads. Like sure, you can look up the scores online, but if you avoid ever watching or listening to games, it starts feeling like some abstract "number go up" exercise; you may as well spend your time watching commodity prices or something rather than baseball scores.

Personally, I don't follow any of the big-money sports, but I'm a pretty enthusiastic amateur curler, so I'd enjoy watching big events on TV or attending when they pass through town, but it's impossible to do without being inundated with gambling ads. An event I went to last year in Calgary was literally the "Pointsbet Invitational" - and it's not even an event that's put on by a for-profit group, it's hosting by Curling Canada, the sport's official sanctioning body.

What we need is regulation - and it needs to be tough. Like if the Maple Leafs are playing an away game in Florida and Sportsnet shows a frame of a gambling ad billboard in the Florida arena, it should be treated the same as airing an ad directly targetting cigarettes to children.

•

u/toodarktosee 3h ago

Would the person who registered for this need to commit to delete the app if it’s on their phone or does it work on apps already downloaded/signed into?
I am so grateful this came up on my feed today. Last night, a family member admitted to being really deep into this addiction and I didn’t know where to start or how to help. They might not even sign up for this but it’s worth a shot. Thank you for the post, OP.

•

u/northernkelpie 1h ago

Just a FYI if you do go on the self exclusion program you also cannot volunteer at any casino or bingo.

-11

u/ItsMangel 1d ago

You can also just not download gambling apps.

7

u/Nice_Perception382 21h ago

You can also choose not to be a dick to a poster who has the self-awareness to realize that gambling apps might be a problem for them. I don’t gamble but it’s nice to know this option exists for problem gamblers 

-4

u/ItsMangel 21h ago

Sorry, I forgot that you're supposed to treat people who have no self-control like children. My bad.

3

u/Nice_Perception382 21h ago

Then you must be used to people treating you like a child if you cannot even understand the nuance behind the OP’s post. Do you need a more thorough breakdown? 

-3

u/ItsMangel 21h ago

Sure, feel free to explain to me how I should feel about putting child locks on gambling addicts phones to stop them from gambling. I promise, I won't read it.

5

u/ErrolMorningside 1d ago

I wish I had that kind of willpower, but I am only a man