01Gambling Support BC: 1-888-795-6111
Gambling Support BC is the province's helpline. The number is 1-888-795-6111. The line is toll-free, answered at any hour on every day of the week, and costs BC residents nothing.
Helpline navigators can help right away, find local services, or connect callers with a free counsellor. The program offers the following services:
- confidential one-on-one counselling
- confidential group counselling
- support for people affected by a family member's gambling
- anonymous outreach support
- Indigenous services
Details are on gamblingsupportbc.ca. There is no threshold to meet before calling. A vague sense that something is off is reason enough to call.
02GameSense inside the casino
GameSense is BCLC's responsible gambling program. It has been running since 2009. Every casino and community gaming centre in BC has a GameSense Info Centre, which is an interactive kiosk on or near the gaming floor. GameSense Advisors work on site at those centres. BCLC finished placing advisors in every venue in fall 2019.
That includes Parq downtown and Hastings in East Vancouver. Advisors can also be reached away from the casino at 1-866-815-0222 or through Live Chat on PlayNow.
03Game Break: voluntary self-exclusion
Game Break is BCLC's voluntary self-exclusion program. A sign-up can run for 3 years, for 2 years, for 1 year or for 6 months.
- Enrolling: in person at a gambling facility or a BCLC office, virtually with a GameSense Advisor, or directly on PlayNow.com.
- Phone or chat: 1-866-815-0222, press 3 (7 a.m. to midnight daily), or Live Chat on GameSense.com or PlayNow.com.
The exclusion starts as soon as you enrol. It cannot be cancelled or changed until the term ends, but it can be extended at any time. While you are enrolled you cannot win, and BCLC will not pay a major prize. To come back after the term ends, you have to complete an online course called Game Plan.
A Game Break enrolment excludes you from both PlayNow and all BC gambling facilities. Confirm with the advisor what your exclusion covers when you enrol. The online in BC page covers PlayNow itself.
The exclusion is enforced at the door. From June 26, 2023, no one gets into a BC casino without showing government-issued photo ID. Security staff scan the ID and compare it with the list of people banned from gambling facilities, Game Break enrollees among them.
04Limits for a night downtown
None of this is a system. It is the dull planning that keeps the evening the size you meant it to be.
- Money. Decide the amount before you leave home and treat it as the cost of the night, the way you would a concert ticket. Leave the cards you will not need at home. Money spent is spent; it is not something to win back.
- Time. Pick a leaving time and set a phone alarm. Make the decision before you go, the way you decide on a rain jacket in November and not once you are already soaked.
- The last train: We could not confirm last SkyTrain times from Stadium-Chinatown, Yaletown-Roundhouse or Renfrew, so check translink.ca before you go. After the trains stop, NightBus runs every 20 to 30 minutes, seven nights a week. From about 1:30 a.m., all NightBus routes leave from Howe & Dunsmuir or Seymour & Granville. Near Hastings Park, the N35 runs along Hastings St. The late night and SkyTrain pages have more.
- Parking. Parking at Parq is paid and charged by licence plate. Parq's own page lists self-parking up to $55 for 24 hours and says rates may change with demand. A long night adds to the cost of the evening.
If the plan keeps slipping, that is worth noticing, and the helpline above is a reasonable place to talk it through.