25/07/2025
In fire safety, there's a simple concept called the fire triangle: heat, fuel, and oxygen. Take away just one of these, and the fire dies. We believe the same model applies to gambling recovery. Remove time, money or access, and you reduce the risk of further harm.
Time
Time is easy to overlook, but it's often the first thing gambling consumes.
Not just the time spent betting — it's time spent thinking about gambling, chasing losses, worrying about money. Time is finite; every moment given to gambling is time taken from something else. By replacing gambling with something that occupies your time, you reduce the risk of further gambling harm by limiting the availability of gambling.
Money
The danger with gambling isn't just losing money — it's believing you can win it back. Many banks offer gambling spend blocks so this can help protect you from spending money on gambling. Unfortunately, many of us lose everything to gambling but find ourselves spending everything we get on gambling, or worse, finding other means to access money.
Access
Gambling is only a few taps away, and your phone is, among other things, an online casino.
Gamban exists to remove that access — to take one side of the triangle away and give people space to breathe, think, and recover. Self-exclusion schemes like GAMSTOP are very effective at restricting access to online gambling. Having both in place is the best strategy.
Putting the Fire Out
The fire triangle teaches us a simple but powerful lesson: when you remove just one element, the fire dies. We can apply the same thinking to gambling harm: reducing time spent on gambling, removing access to gambling or restricting our ability to spend money on gambling.
You don't have to do everything at once. Start with what's most achievable. Each element you remove reduces harm and creates space for recovery.
Remove Time
- Track when you feel most tempted to gamble and create alternative routines in those time slots
- Replace unstructured time with planned activities, even small changes help: walks, calls, hobbies, volunteering
Restrict Money
- Enable gambling blocks through your bank or financial apps (check if your bank offers this)
- Delay access to money, move savings to an account you can't instantly access or use a pre-paid card for daily spending
- Ask someone you trust to help manage your finances, if you're in a crisis phase
Block Access
- Use software like Gamban to block gambling sites and apps across your devices
- Register with a self-exclusion scheme – find localised options and support here
- Contact your mobile network or ISP to request gambling restrictions at the network level
No one approach works for everyone, but even one of these changes can interrupt harmful patterns and help you move forward.
