When one’s life is being negatively impacted by gambling, including causing harm to family relations, financial status, work performance, or mental and physical health, it may be a symptom of problem gambling.
If any of your family members is suspected to have excessive gambling behavior or becoming pathological gamblers, you should communicate with them calmly and seek appropriate assistance.

Those in need can seek help from below centers which provide problem gambling counselling and treatment services:

  • Caritas Addicted Gamblers Counselling Centre
  • TWGHs Even Centre
  • Zion Social Service – Yuk Lai Hin
  • HKLSS – Sunshine Lutheran Centre

Three level of assistance to problem gamblers


Handle emerging financial issues

Assist to the problem gamblers to rebuild their interest and nurture positive lifestyle and avoid to focus on online gambling. This would enable them to mitigate their desire to gamble and build sense of achievement

Some problem gamblers may experience anxiety and depression at the same time. Medication may be able to deal with emotional problems and alleviate gambling addiction behavior

The procedures of counselling services for problem gambling cases handling include:


Contact a counsellor through the Ping Wo Fund helpline.
Collect basic information and conduct simple assessment with the help-seekers in support for the future counselling services.
During the first meeting with counsellor, a professional assessment will be conducted to classify help-seeker’s gambling behavior, before open case file and provide counselling services.
Subject to the complexity and urgency of the case, counsellors will suitably identify counselling service to case owner.
In most cases, counsellors will work with the case owners to develop a treatment plan after 4 to 5 meetings
Over the 6-month treatment period, the counsellors and case owners will review the treatment plans from time to time to see if the objectives can be achieved in sequence. Counselors will suitably intervene to ensure the case could be handled effectively and orderly towards the mutually agreed treatment objectives.
In addition, if family relationship / issue being identified as contributory factors of gambling disorders, counsellors will also advise and invite the family members to participate in counselling.
Upon achieving the treatment objective, the counsellor will discuss further arrangements with the case owner before conclude the service case.
Counsellors will follow up six months after the case completion by contacting the case owner via phone calls, to determine their gambling status and whether they are able to maintain their treatment objectives.

In addition to the provision of individual counselling services, counsellors will also invite help-seekers to participating in different types of group activities subject to individual case circumstances, so that the owners can receive support from different discipline in order to achieve better counselling and treatment results.

To get twice the effect, it is suggested that family members could consider below five key points, and become the assistant therapist to psychiatrist.

Even if one stay away gambling for the time being, the precautions are still indispensable.
According to the past record, the chances of relapse are 70% - 80% within one or two years after stop gambling.
So, stay alert and remember family supports are always critical.

Professional advices - three key points for family communication

Family support is essential for problem gamblers to stay away from addictive behavior over the course of addictive behavior treatment. The interaction between family members is critical to yield positive outcome. Below are some key points to note when communicate with family members in need.

Professional sharing – mental health and youth counselling to stay away from addictive behaviour


Dr. Tsang Fan Kwong



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Dr. William, Chui Wing Ho



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What is Problem Gambling?

Problem Gambling Counselling and Treatment Services Centres

Voluntary Account Betting Self-exclusion Service

To assist players to effectively manage their gambling behavior, the Club offers Voluntary Account Betting Self-exclusion Service for those in need.

If you would like to know more about the service or download the application form, please go to this page