Gambling addiction help in Lithuania

Verified helplines

Helplines and online chat

Lithuania has no 24-hour gambling line. The state gambling regulator, the Gaming Control Authority under the Ministry of Finance (Lošimų priežiūros tarnyba prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos), employs psychologists who give free consultations to people who gamble and to their relatives. They answer on (0 5) 233 62 41 and (0 5) 219 6630, Monday to Thursday 8:00–17:00 and Friday 8:00–15:45, and by email at pagalba@lpt.lt.

The Authority also runs nebenoriu-losti.lt ("I don't want to gamble any more"), which carries a searchable directory of state institutions, hospitals, private clinics, rehabilitation centres and Gamblers Anonymous groups by city — Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and several smaller towns. Lines in other countries are in our helplines directory.

Self-exclusion

The Register of Persons Who Have Restricted Their Own Ability to Gamble (Apribojusių savo galimybę lošti asmenų registras) started on 1 May 2017 under an amendment to the Law on Gambling and is managed by the Gaming Control Authority. It obliges every gambling operator registered and operating in Lithuania, without exception, to refuse entry to a venue and to refuse remote play to anyone in the register. Registration is free.

Periods

The restriction cannot be shorter than six months. The maximum you can enter is 99 years. If you leave the period blank, a two-year restriction is set automatically. Only the person themselves may apply, and only from the age of 18.

How to file it

Three routes, with different speeds:

• Online through the state gateway Elektroniniai valdžios vartai (epaslaugos.lt), identifying yourself by e-banking, mobile e-signature or ID card. The request is confirmed and takes effect the next working day, so a Friday request only becomes active on Monday.
• At a gambling venue, where staff give you access to the same portal.
• In person at the Gaming Control Authority, Ukmergės g. 222, Vilnius, where the request takes effect immediately.

The form asks optional statistical questions about which games and which cities you gamble in; that part is anonymised and is not linked to your name.

Nobody can file it for you

The Authority is explicit that only the person concerned can submit a request, online or in person, and that the law provides no way to enter someone in the register without their participation and consent. A spouse, parent or employer cannot do it.

In its first five years the register received 28,500 requests, with 10,904 active in May 2022, against roughly 4,800 requests over the whole 2004–2017 life of the earlier voluntary programme (Gaming Control Authority, 2022). How other countries' schemes work is in our guide to self-exclusion by country.

Blocking gambling payments and sites

The register reaches operators registered in Lithuania. Sites licensed elsewhere are outside it, so the second layer is a blocker on the devices you actually gamble on. See our comparison of gambling blocking apps for iOS and Android.

If losses have already turned into debt, start with what to do about gambling debt.

Free treatment and counselling

Two free routes exist. The first is the Gaming Control Authority's own psychologists, who consult people who gamble and their relatives at no charge and without a referral.

The second is the state Republican Centre for Addictive Disorders (Respublikinis priklausomybės ligų centras, RPLC), which treats behavioural addictions including gambling. It has branches in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys, and its services are funded by the compulsory health insurance fund. Treatment there is free with a referral from your family doctor or a psychiatrist; you can also be treated anonymously without a referral, but then you pay. The programmes include outpatient psychiatric follow-up, a three-month outpatient Minnesota programme, a day hospital of up to 30 days and a 28-day inpatient Minnesota programme.

Support for family and friends

Relatives can use the Gaming Control Authority's free psychological consultations in their own right, on the same numbers, and the nebenoriu-losti.lt directory lists Gamblers Anonymous groups and rehabilitation communities that also work with families.

What you cannot do is register the person yourself: the law has no mechanism for entering someone in the gambling register without their consent. Practical approaches are in how to help someone with a gambling addiction, and the signs of a gambling problem if you are still weighing up whether there is one.

Gambling law and the regulator

Gambling is regulated by the Law on Gambling and supervised by the Gaming Control Authority under the Ministry of Finance, which licenses operators, keeps the self-exclusion register and employs the psychologists mentioned above.

The age limits differ by venue type: you must be 18 to enter gambling venues or to gamble online, and 21 to gamble in a casino. Using someone else's passport or ID card to get around the age limit is a criminal-law matter, and gambling outside licensed venues — at home, among friends or in public places — is illegal in Lithuania.