Gambling addiction help in Mexico

Verified helplines

Helplines and online chat

Línea de la Vida, 800 911 2000, is the public line for mental health and addictions. It is run by CONASAMA, the National Commission for Mental Health and Addictions, within the Secretaría de Salud. It is free, answers 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, and mental health professionals take the call, offer a brief intervention and refer serious cases to a specialist centre. It is not a gambling line: the published scope is substance use, emotional crises, suicidal thoughts, gender violence and other mental health problems. Family members can call about someone else.

For gambling specifically, Jugadores Anónimos México is the fellowship route. It answers on WhatsApp at 81 1585 9965 (from abroad, +52 81 1585 9965) and runs national Zoom meetings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 20:00 to 21:30 Mexico City time. Meetings are in Spanish, free, and open to anyone who wants to stop gambling; the schedule is on jamexico.org. This is peer support, not professional treatment.

Self-exclusion

There is no national self-exclusion register in Mexico as of September 2026, and no legal basis for one: the Reglamento de la Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos, which sets out what permit holders must do, contains no self-exclusion provision and no register of excluded people. What it does require is narrower — advertising must state that betting is prohibited for minors and must carry a responsible-play message (article 9), and article 5 bars minors from betting areas and from placing a bet in any circumstance.

That leaves two practical routes. Ask the casino or betting shop to bar you and close your account: some permit holders operate their own exclusion lists, and the answer depends on the operator, not on the law. And close online accounts individually with each site you use, then block them at the device level, since nothing stops you opening a new account elsewhere the same evening.

One rule does work in your favour. Article 11 forbids permit holders from giving credit to bettors, directly or indirectly. If a venue or site offers you money to keep playing, that is not a service — it is outside the terms of its permit.

Blocking gambling payments and sites

Because there is no register, blocking software carries most of the weight in Mexico. Apps that block gambling sites and apps on a phone or laptop are compared in apps that block gambling sites; the strongest versions are the ones a friend or family member controls the password for, so removing the block takes a conversation.

On the money side the steps are manual: ask your bank whether it can decline gambling merchants on your card, take cards off gambling accounts, keep the account that pays rent and utilities separate from any account you gamble from, and set the deposit limits offered inside the operator account where they exist. How to set gambling limits covers the order to do this in, and what to do about gambling debt deals with borrowing that has already happened.

Free treatment and counselling

Mexico has no state-funded treatment program specifically for gambling. The public route starts with Línea de la Vida, which assesses the call and refers into mental health and addiction services; care in public health facilities is the general system rather than a gambling program. Ask directly for a psychologist or psychiatrist experienced in behavioural addictions, and say plainly that the problem is gambling rather than stress or debt — otherwise the referral is likely to be to general counselling.

Free peer support is available immediately through Jugadores Anónimos México, online three evenings a week. What professional treatment usually consists of, and what to ask a therapist for, is set out in gambling addiction treatment and CBT for gambling.

Support for family and friends

Línea de la Vida takes calls from relatives and friends about someone else's problem, not only from the person affected. Jugadores Anónimos México is for the person who gambles; families often start with the same WhatsApp contact to ask where to go.

Before lending money or taking over the accounts, read how to help someone with a gambling problem and the signs of a gambling problem. Paying off a debt without any other change is the step families most often regret.

Gambling law and the regulator

Gambling is regulated federally by the Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB) through the Dirección General de Juegos y Sorteos, under the Ley Federal de Juegos y Sorteos and its Reglamento. Article 7 of the Reglamento is the core rule: no betting game or draw may be operated or organised without a written permit from the Secretaría.

Online betting is legal in the same narrow sense. Article 85 lets permitted establishments take bets over the internet, by telephone or electronically, provided they run an internal control system, approved in advance by the Secretaría, that records the account and identity of the bettor and the time, amount and selection of every bet. A site without a Mexican permit is not covered by any of this, and neither are you if something goes wrong with it.

Two limits are worth knowing. Slot machines are prohibited in any form under article 12, as amended by the decree published on 16 November 2023 and in force from the next day; permits granted before then run out after fifteen non-extendable years. And minors may not enter betting areas or place a bet under any circumstance.