The gambling hotline in Israel is 1-700-500-888, run by the Efshar association together with Mifal HaPais. There is no national self-exclusion register. Treatment is mainly the responsibility of the welfare ministry: outpatient care is delivered by social services departments in local authorities and by associations whose centres are subsidised, with a second route through your health fund and family doctor. Gambling is prohibited by law except for Mifal HaPais and the Israel Sports Betting Board, and only for people over 18.
| Gambling hotline | 1-700-500-888 — Efshar, with Mifal HaPais; Hebrew; hours not published |
|---|---|
| Health fund lines | Clalit *2700, Maccabi *3555, Meuhedet *3833, Leumit *507 — route to addiction clinics |
| Self-exclusion | No national self-exclusion register as of September 2026 |
| Free treatment | Outpatient treatment through local-authority social services, funded by the welfare ministry |
| Legal operators | Mifal HaPais (lottery) and the Israel Sports Betting Board only |
| Online gambling | Prohibited outside those two licensed operators |
| Regulator | Permits are granted by the Minister of Finance under the Penal Law prohibition |
| Legal gambling age | 18 |
Verified helplines
| Service | Phone / chat | Hours | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efshar — hotline for people harmed by gambling (with Mifal HaPais)Gambling-specific hotline run by the Efshar association jointly with the national lottery (Mifal HaPais); Efshar also runs treatment centres for gamblers. | 1-700-500-888 | Hours not publishedHebrew | hitmakruyot.efshar.org.il |
Helplines and online chat
The dedicated line for people harmed by gambling is 1-700-500-888, operated by the Efshar association jointly with the national lottery, Mifal HaPais. It answers in Hebrew and its hours are not published. Efshar also runs treatment centres for gamblers, so the call can end in an appointment rather than a leaflet.
The second route is your health fund. Israel's Ministry of Health directs people with a gambling problem to their family doctor or to an addiction clinic through their kupat holim, and lists the mental health lines: Clalit *2700, Maccabi *3555, Meuhedet *3833, Leumit *507. The ministry describes the usual treatments as psychotherapy, group support including Gamblers Anonymous, and medication where an accompanying condition such as depression or anxiety needs it.
Gamblers Anonymous groups meet in Israel and online; the meeting finder is at gamblersanonymous.org.
If you are thinking about ending your life, contact your local emergency services now; findahelpline.com lists crisis lines by country, and our helplines directory covers gambling lines.
Self-exclusion
There is no national self-exclusion register in Israel as of September 2026. Nothing equivalent to a single sign-up that closes every account exists, and the reason is structural: legal gambling is limited to two state-permitted operators, and the sites most people actually lose money on are illegal ones that would ignore a register in any case.
What is available is narrower. Ask Mifal HaPais or the Israel Sports Betting Board to close or restrict your account and stop marketing to you. For everything else (offshore casinos, poker apps, betting sites reachable from Israel) the block has to be technical, on your own devices, because there is no operator obliged to keep you out. Blocking apps and how they compare are in apps that block gambling sites, and self-exclusion by country shows what other countries run.
Blocking gambling payments and sites
With no register, the practical work is money and devices. Take your cards off every gambling account, keep the account your salary lands in separate from any card you have used to deposit, and ask your bank whether it can decline gambling merchants. Then install a blocker on the phone and the laptop and let someone else hold the password, so removing it takes a conversation rather than a tap.
Betting on credit is where debts accelerate; if that has already happened, what to do about gambling debt sets out the order to deal with it in, and how to set gambling limits covers the limits worth setting first.
Free treatment and counselling
Treatment for gambling in Israel is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs, with the Ministry of Health involved to a degree. Outpatient treatment, the route most people take, is provided by social services departments in 94 local authorities and is financed and overseen by the welfare ministry, so for the person treated it does not run through private fees. Additional centres are run by associations, including Efshar and Haderech, whose treatment is subsidised by Mifal HaPais, the Sports Betting Board and the Israeli Public Class Action Fund. Residential treatment is provided in therapeutic centres under ministry tenders.
Take-up is low relative to need: the Ministry of Social Affairs registered 771 patients in all treatment facilities in 2020, and about 92% of them were treated on an outpatient basis. Practically, that means places exist and the queue is not the obstacle; knowing to ask is. Start with the hotline or the social services department of your local authority, and say the problem is gambling. What treatment involves is described in gambling addiction treatment.
Support for family and friends
Family members can call the Efshar hotline and can approach the local authority's social services department in their own name: treatment services deal with the household, not only the person who gambles. The health fund route is also open to relatives through the same mental health lines.
Before taking over the money or paying a debt, read how to help someone with a gambling problem and the signs of a gambling problem.
Gambling law and the regulator
Israeli law prohibits gambling in general and gives the Minister of Finance the power to permit it in specific cases. Two permits exist: Mifal HaPais, the national lottery, and the Israel Sports Betting Board. Both may operate only for adults over the age of 18. Everything else (land-based casinos, poker rooms, and online gambling other than the Sports Betting Board's own offering) falls under the prohibition, and a substantial illegal market operates alongside the licensed one.
For someone trying to stop, the consequence is simple: the operators that would be obliged to honour a limit or an exclusion are the two licensed ones. Any other site you can reach from Israel has no such obligation, no regulator to complain to, and no reason to return your money.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a gambling helpline in Israel?
Yes: 1-700-500-888, run by the Efshar association with Mifal HaPais, in Hebrew. Efshar also operates treatment centres, so the call can lead to an appointment. A second route is your health fund: Clalit *2700, Maccabi *3555, Meuhedet *3833 or Leumit *507.
Is online gambling legal in Israel?
No, except for betting offered by the Israel Sports Betting Board. Israeli law prohibits gambling generally and the Minister of Finance has permitted only Mifal HaPais and the Sports Betting Board, for people over 18. Other sites operate outside the law and are not bound by any player-protection rules.
How do I self-exclude from gambling in Israel?
There is no national register. You can ask Mifal HaPais or the Sports Betting Board to close your account, but unlicensed sites will not honour anything. In practice the block has to be on your own devices and cards, backed by someone else holding the password.
Is gambling treatment free in Israel?
Outpatient treatment is provided through social services departments in 94 local authorities and financed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and further centres run by associations are subsidised by Mifal HaPais, the Sports Betting Board and the Israeli Public Class Action Fund. Ask the hotline or your local authority's social services.