Free Help For People Struggling With Gambling

The Phone Number on the Counter

There is a phone number posted at the register where you buy scratch tickets. State law requires it to be there.

People rarely see it. Here is what is behind it, because it is more than most people expect, and because gambling is the rare money problem where Minnesota already paid for the help and then never advertised it.

First, so it is not buried: the helpline is 1-800-333-HOPE. It is confidential, it is answered 24 hours a day, and you can text HOPE to 53342 or use the chat instead if you would rather not talk to anyone.

What actually happens if you call

I have spent most of my working life in a room with people deciding whether to say something out loud. The barrier is almost never information. It is not knowing what you are walking into.

So, specifically. You call or text, a trained counselor answers rather than a bot, you decide what you want to share, they explain your options, and you choose what happens next.

Three things worth knowing before you dial, and the state says all three plainly on its own site. You decide what you share. You can stop at any point. Calling does not enroll you in anything.

The treatment is paid for if you cannot pay for it

Insurance frequently will not cover this. Minnesota anticipated that and put money behind it anyway.

Funding is available to residents who have no other source of payment or coverage for gambling treatment through a state-approved provider. Eligibility comes from an assessment the provider does with you. It is not a form you have to argue your way through first.

It also is not only for the person doing the gambling. The state's contracts with providers require counseling and coordination for family members and significant others. A spouse can get help whether or not the person they are worried about ever calls anybody.

There is free help with the money itself

This is the part I most want people to know, because debt is usually the thing that convinces somebody it is too late to ask.

Minnesota partners with GamFin for free confidential financial counseling for people and families dealing with gambling-related money problems. Not investment advice. The practical kind: debt, a spending plan you can actually follow, guardrails. Sessions are virtual, and there is a group option if a one-on-one feels like too much to start with.

The Minnesota Alliance on Problem Gambling also runs a no-cost financial counseling partnership with Lutheran Social Services, open to the gambler or to a family member.

Debt is not the thing that makes it too late.

If you are worried about somebody else

Most people reading this are not reading it for themselves.

The state's site has separate paths built for exactly that, and they are better than general advice because they are written for the position you are actually in. There is one for someone worried about a partner or a friend and a different one for a parent worried about a child, including how to raise it without the conversation going sideways, and where the line sits between supporting somebody and taking the problem over for them.

If you would rather think it through before calling anyone, there is a private self-assessment.

One hard thing, said once

Gambling harm carries real risk to a person's life, and the state's site puts the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at the top of its page for that reason. If you or someone in your house is anywhere near that, call  988. It is a different door than the gambling helpline, and it is open all the time.

Two more things

There is also a motivational text program if you want encouragement without a conversation at all. Text EncourageMeMN, or AnimameMN for Spanish.

And I should say why this one is on a list about saving money. The other posts here are about a few dollars. Gas, an insulin copay, a pack of cigarettes. This one can be a house.

I am not going to tell you that you have a problem. I do not know you, and that is not something anybody diagnoses from a blog post. I am not going to tell you this is your month to do anything about it either. You would know that better than I would.

What I can tell you is that the number works at any hour, the counselor is a person, the money for treatment already exists whether or not anyone uses it, and none of it commits you to a thing on the first call.

I wrote separately about why I know what the house takes, if you want the longer version.