Responsible Play

More numbers

• Worried about someone else? Family and loved ones can contact the national line too: 1-800-MY-RESET. Gam-Anon is for people affected by someone else's gambling: 844-475-4213.
• Want to talk to people who've been there? Gamblers Anonymous: 855-222-5542, or find a meeting. No dues or fees. SMART Recovery is an alternative to 12-step groups. Gambling Therapy gives free support online.
• Using drugs or alcohol too? SAMHSA's National Helpline can refer you to local care: 1-800-662-4357. Free, confidential, 24/7.
• In Canada. In a crisis, call or text 9-8-8, any hour. If your safety is at risk, call 9-1-1. For gambling help in Ontario, call ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 or text CONNEX to 247247. For other provinces and territories, see the Responsible Gambling Council's list.
• In the UK and Ireland. Call Samaritans free on 116 123, day or night. In England and Scotland, the National Gambling Helpline is free and open 24 hours: 0808 8020 133. Wales has a separate NHS line, listed on GambleAware's help page.

Older ads may show 1-800-522-4700. That number still works.

Paid DFS players can call. The national helpline pages we read speak of gambling and don't name fantasy sports.

What to watch for

Paid fantasy and betting stop being fun when:

• You put in more than you can afford to lose.
• You try to win back what you lost.
• You need bigger stakes to get the same feeling.
• You've borrowed money or sold something to keep playing.
• You hide how much you play or lose.
• You get restless or irritable when you try to cut back.
• You think about it all the time.
• You feel you can't control it.

For a quick check, the Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen is three yes-or-no questions from the Division on Addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance. It's anonymous. A "yes" isn't a diagnosis. It means it's worth talking to someone. Gamblers Anonymous also has 20 Questions.

Tools that help

• Set limits in the app. Look in your account settings or the app's responsible gaming page for deposit limits, timeouts and self-exclusion. Set them before you need them.
• Self-exclude. Many states run self-exclusion lists for betting, but not all of them cover paid fantasy. Vermont's doesn't, for one. Call the helpline and ask what's available where you live, or go through each app.
• Block the sites. BetBlocker is free. Gamban is paid.
• Talk to your bank. Ask your bank or card issuer whether it can block gambling payments, and what a block would and wouldn't cover.
• Bring someone in. Tell one person you trust what's going on.

How we handle this at FCT

We take no bets. We sell no entries. We carry no betting offers. No operator pays us when you sign up for a contest or an app. This page carries no ads.

Our DFS pages are written for adults. Paid fantasy is 18+ in most states, 19+ or 21+ in others. Check the operator's terms, and check that paid play is legal where you are.

The math of paid DFS

Strategy doesn't change the arithmetic.

• The operator gets paid first. Say 100 people pay $10 each and the prizes add up to $900. The operator keeps $100 before a game starts, so players as a group start $100 down. That 10% is an example, not any operator's actual cut.
• Fixed-payout games have a hurdle too. Say a $10 two-pick entry pays $30 if both picks hit and nothing otherwise. To break even, both have to hit one time in three. That takes about 58% on each pick, not 50% (the square root of 1/3, if the two picks are unrelated). A different payout means a different hurdle. This is a warning, not a recommendation.
• A small group won most of the profits. McKinsey reported that in the first half of the 2015 MLB season, 1.3% of players won 91% of DFS player profits. That's one sport, half a season, 2015, and McKinsey's chart calls it an estimate from public data. We found no newer figure from an operator or a regulator.

If you play, use money you can afford to lose. If you need a win to fix something, that's the moment to stop and call.

Facts checked Nov 5, 2026.