Does It Work?

Gambling Hypnosis: What It Offers and What the Research Says

It’s late, everyone else is asleep, and the betting app is open again. If that’s familiar, this page on gambling hypnosis covers the free steps that come first, and two recordings that give you a structured way to relax and rehearse saying no, alongside the helpline or a counsellor.

Ring the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 before anything else.Free, confidential and available 24/7 across Australia. If talking is too much, Gambling Help Online at gamblinghelponline.org.au offers chat instead.

If any of your betting is online or by phone, BetStop at betstop.gov.au is the Government’s free national self-exclusion register. It blocks you from every licensed Australian online and phone betting provider, for at least 3 months and up to a lifetime. It does not cover pokies, casinos or TAB shops. Venue exclusion is run separately by each state, and a state registration doesn’t carry across to BetStop.

The two recordings further down are made to sit alongside these, not replace them.

Ernest McLeod, clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide

Written by Ernest McLeodClinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice. About Ernest →

I earn a commission if you buy either of the two sessions listed further down. It doesn’t change what you pay or what I recommend, and the first thing I recommend is a free phone call.

What can gambling hypnosis offer?

A hypnosis recording is guided relaxation followed by rehearsal: about 25 minutes of settling down, then going through the moment the pull to bet arrives and a calmer way through it. It gives the evenings between a helpline call and a counselling session a structured, repeatable routine, and it can be one part of a plan that includes the helpline or a counsellor.

Is a recording a lesser version of seeing someone? The largest recent review of hypnosis for pain (Yim and Derbyshire, 2026) compared how it was delivered and found no meaningful difference between a live clinician, a recording and self-hypnosis. That research was on pain, not on gambling, but it’s the best evidence there is that a recording isn’t a second-rate version of sitting in a room with someone. Gambling has its own research on format, set out further down, and it favours working with a person, which is why the recordings here are meant to sit alongside the helpline or a counsellor.

What is the best way to stop gambling?

Put barriers and people between you and the bet, and use the free ones first. The steps below come from the evidence further down or from the services themselves. The order matters less than doing the first one today, because the helpline can help with all the others. A recording can sit alongside them as one part of the plan.

  1. Ring 1800 858 858, or open the chat

    Free, confidential, 24/7, anywhere in Australia. Gambling Help Online runs the chat if you would rather type.

  2. Register with BetStop if any of it is online or by phone

    Once you are registered, licensed providers shouldn’t let you open an account, take your bet or market to you. You can’t cancel in the first 3 months, and after that only with a statutory declaration that you have seen a counsellor or GP, so a bad night can’t undo it.

  3. Sort out the pokies separately

    BetStop doesn’t reach venues. Each state runs its own venue exclusion; ask the helpline about yours.

  4. Ask for CBT with a person, and plan to finish it

    The helpline can connect you to free counselling. About four in ten people leave treatment early, so if you miss a session, go to the next one anyway.

Where do the two recordings fit?

Alongside the helpline and a counsellor, for the evenings in between. Each is guided relaxation and rehearsal, US$18.95, about A$27, with the publisher’s 90-day refund on singles. Overcome Gambling Addiction is for gambling in general; Slot Machine Addiction is for pokies. Neither replaces BetStop or venue exclusion.

  • Overcome Gambling Addiction

    23:55 · narrated by Mark Tyrrell · US$18.95

    For someone who can see what gambling is costing and still feels pulled back, once the helpline and BetStop are done. No preview.

  • Slot Machine Addiction

    25:50 · narrated by Roger Elliott · US$18.95

    Slot machines is the publisher’s phrase; here they are pokies. For gambling that happens at a machine, with venue exclusion sorted first. The publisher has a preview.

The publisher reports 750 and 155 lifetime purchases for these two; those are its own figures, which I can’t audit.

What does the research say about hypnotherapy for gambling?

One controlled study exists: Lloret and colleagues, 2014, 49 people with pathological gambling. Both groups had cognitive behavioural therapy, one for 11 sessions, the other for 7 sessions that included self-hypnosis. Both improved, and there were “no differences between the interventions”. So self-hypnosis did no harm to a shorter course; whether it did anything itself, the study cannot say.

A PubMed search run for this page in September 2026 returned 66 records for hypnosis and gambling, and exactly one was a treatment study. Most of the rest were about sedative drugs, or written by authors called Gamble. There are no trials of a hypnosis recording for gambling, and a 2024 umbrella review of 49 meta-analyses of hypnosis doesn’t mention gambling. No defensible success rate exists for hypnosis and gambling.

The design of the one study matters. The abstract says the 49 were “assigned to 2 groups”, not randomised, and PubMed files it as a controlled clinical trial rather than a randomised one. Nobody had hypnosis alone and nobody had nothing, so its effect can’t be separated from the CBT around it. The groups had different numbers of sessions. And a co-author, Capafons, developed the waking self-hypnosis method being tested: an allegiance, not a financial interest.

The fair summary.In the only study that has looked, a shorter CBT course with self-hypnosis did as well as a longer course without it. That design can’t tell you what the hypnosis itself did, and the likeliest active ingredient is the CBT everyone had.

On format, Goslar and colleagues pooled 27 randomised trials of gambling treatment in 2017, 3,879 people, and sorted them by how treatment was delivered. Face-to-face treatments had effect sizes from 0.67 to 1.15; self-guided treatments, the kind you work through alone, from 0.12 to 0.30. None of those trials tested hypnosis, but a recording is self-guided, so the practical point is to use one as part of a plan that includes the helpline or counselling rather than on its own.

Effect sizes for gambling treatment, face-to-face against self-guided Two horizontal range bars on a scale from zero to one point two. The face-to-face bar, from sixteen trials, runs from zero point six seven to one point one five. The self-guided bar, from eleven trials, runs from zero point one two to zero point three. The two ranges do not overlap. A footer notes that a recording is self-guided. Effect size, by format Face-to-face: 16 trials 0.67 to 1.15 Self-guided: 11 trials 0.12 to 0.30 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 A recording is self-guided
Ranges of effect sizes (Hedges’s g) from Goslar and colleagues’ 2017 meta-analysis of 27 randomised trials in disordered gambling. None of those trials tested hypnosis; the chart is about format. Bigger means a bigger effect.

What therapy is best for gambling addiction?

Cognitive behavioural therapy, and healthdirect names it: “Treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) may help overcome gambling addiction.” The strongest reviews agree that it helps in the short term. What they can’t yet tell you is how long the help lasts, and they say so in their own conclusions.

Cowlishaw’s 2012 Cochrane review, from Monash University in Melbourne, pooled 14 studies and 1,245 people. In the first three months after CBT, effects ranged from medium, on money lost, to very large, on symptom severity. Only one study, of 147 people, compared groups at nine to twelve months, and there the effects were smaller and not significant. The authors’ own words: the data “may thus reflect overestimates of treatment efficacy”.

Pfund and colleagues went back in 2023 with 29 randomised trials and 3,991 people. CBT cut gambling severity substantially by the end of treatment (an effect size of 1.14), but “CBTs had no significant effect on follow-up outcomes”, and the analysis found publication bias. An umbrella review that year, 56 studies and 5,389 people, still called the evidence for CBT reducing gambling harm “strong”. And a 2021 review of 24 studies found 39.1 per cent of people left face-to-face treatment early.

How much do Australians lose to gambling?

More than at any time in the last two decades. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, citing Queensland Government figures, puts total net gambling losses in 2022-23 at $31.5 billion, around $1,527 per capita. High-risk gambling has risen too, from 1.1 per cent in 2018 to 1.8 per cent in 2022, on HILDA survey data.

Those bands come from the Problem Gambling Severity Index, a short questionnaire: 0 is no risk, 1 to 2 low, 3 to 7 moderate, 8 to 27 high. Moderate-risk gambling rose over the same years, from 2.5 to 3.1 per cent.

If the advertising feels constant, a parliamentary committee agreed with you. Its June 2023 report, You win some, you lose more, recommended “a comprehensive ban on all forms of advertising for online gambling”, phased in over three years.

Who is this wrong for?

If any of these is you, start with the helpline rather than a recording. The recordings are made for someone who has already rung it, or is seeing a counsellor, and wants something structured for the evenings in between.

  • Anyone who hasn’t yet rung 1800 858 858.
  • Anyone hoping a recording will keep them out of a venue. Venue exclusion is built for that; a recording isn’t.
  • Anyone with severe depression or psychosis, where Better Health advises against hypnosis.
  • Anyone whose betting and drinking travel together. Better Health’s caution covers “a drug or alcohol problem” too; the alcohol page is the place to start.
If things are heavier than this page can hold

Free and confidential, open now. Tap to call.

Common questions

Does hypnotherapy for gambling work?

Hypnosis offers guided relaxation and a way to rehearse responses to the urge to gamble, and some people use it alongside counselling. Whether it helps with gambling hasn’t been established: the only controlled study, Lloret 2014, gave 49 people CBT with or without self-hypnosis and found no differences between the groups at six months. There are no trials of hypnosis recordings for gambling. CBT has the strongest evidence, and the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858 is free.

Can a gambling hypnosis recording stop me gambling?

No recording has been tested for gambling. A 2017 meta-analysis of 27 trials found self-guided treatments had smaller effects than face-to-face ones, 0.12 to 0.30 against 0.67 to 1.15, and a recording is self-guided. The sensible place for one is as part of a plan that includes the helpline or a counsellor, used between sessions rather than instead of them.

What therapy is best for gambling addiction?

Cognitive behavioural therapy. Cochrane found medium to very large effects in the first three months, and a 2023 meta-analysis of 29 trials agreed, while warning that the effect is overestimated and was not significant at follow-up. About 39 per cent of people leave face-to-face treatment early, so finishing it matters.

Does BetStop block pokies?

No. BetStop, the national self-exclusion register, blocks licensed Australian online and phone betting providers, for a minimum of 3 months and up to a lifetime. It does not cover pokies, casinos or TAB outlets. Venue exclusion is run separately by each state and territory, so pokies need a separate registration.

How much do Australians lose to gambling?

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, citing Queensland Government figures, reports net gambling losses of $31.5 billion in 2022-23, the highest in two decades, or around $1,527 per capita. HILDA survey data show high-risk gambling rising from 1.1 per cent in 2018 to 1.8 per cent in 2022.

Who can I call about gambling in Australia?

The National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858: free, confidential and available 24/7 across Australia, with online chat through Gambling Help Online. If thoughts of ending your life are part of this, ring Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, ring 000.

Where these numbers come from

  • Lloret D, Montesinos R, Capafons A. Waking self-hypnosis efficacy in cognitive-behavioral treatment for pathological gambling: an effectiveness clinical assay. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2014;62(1):50-69. doi:10.1080/00207144.2013.841474
  • Cowlishaw S, Merkouris S, Dowling N, et al. Psychological therapies for pathological and problem gambling. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;11:CD008937. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008937.pub2
  • Pfund RA, Forman DP, Whalen SK, et al. Effect of cognitive-behavioral techniques for problem gambling and gambling disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction. 2023;118(9):1661-74. doi:10.1111/add.16221
  • Pfund RA, Ginley MK, Kim HS, et al. Cognitive-behavioral treatment for gambling harm: umbrella review and meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev. 2023;105:102336. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102336
  • Goslar M, Leibetseder M, Muench HM, et al. Efficacy of face-to-face versus self-guided treatments for disordered gambling: a meta-analysis. J Behav Addict. 2017;6(2):142-62. doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.034
  • Pfund RA, Peter SC, McAfee NW, et al. Dropout from face-to-face, multi-session psychological treatments for problem and disordered gambling: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychol Addict Behav. 2021;35(8):901-13. doi:10.1037/adb0000710
  • Rosendahl J, Alldredge CT, Haddenhorst A. Meta-analytic evidence on the efficacy of hypnosis for mental and somatic health issues: a 20-year perspective. Front Psychol. 2024;14:1330238. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1330238
  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Gambling in Australia [Internet]. Canberra: AIHW; [updated 2025 Nov 10; cited 2026 Sep 25]. aihw.gov.au
  • House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. You win some, you lose more: online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm. Canberra: Parliament of Australia; 2023 Jun. aph.gov.au
  • Australian Government. BetStop: the National Self-Exclusion Register [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. betstop.gov.au
  • Australian Communications and Media Authority. BetStop national self-exclusion register [Internet]. [cited 2026 Sep 25]. acma.gov.au
  • Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission. BetStop – the National Self-Exclusion Register has launched [Internet]. [updated 2025 Dec 9; cited 2026 Sep 25]. vgccc.vic.gov.au
  • Gambling Help Online [Internet]. Melbourne: Turning Point; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. gamblinghelponline.org.au
  • healthdirect Australia. Gambling addiction [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Government; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
  • Better Health Channel (Victorian Government Department of Health). Hypnosis [Internet]. Melbourne: State of Victoria; [cited 2026 Sep 25]. betterhealth.vic.gov.au
  • Yim TH, Derbyshire SWG. A systematic review of hypnosis for clinical pain relief. Eur J Pain. 2026;30(8):e70369. doi:10.1002/ejp.70369

Related

Ernest McLeod, clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide

Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice.

  • ICHP
  • FELLOW, ASCH
  • IICT MEMBER

Hypnotherapy is not a registered profession in Australia, so I am not AHPRA-registered and I am not a psychologist. Those three are the bodies I do answer to.

I also train other hypnotherapists. My smoking, gambling and vaping cessation courses have been reviewed by the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association and approved for CPD points.

This page puts the free steps first and the recordings beside them, because that is the order that makes sense for gambling. More →

Whatever you decide about a recording, make one call this week: 1800 858 858. If any of your betting happens on a phone, register with BetStop the same day.

Results vary from person to person, and hypnosis does not replace medical care or treatment. These are self-help audio sessions, not medical treatment, a diagnosis, or a substitute for professional care. No therapeutic outcome is claimed for any session sold on this site, and none is offered as a way to stop gambling. National Gambling Helpline: 1800 858 858. BetStop does not cover pokies, casinos or TAB outlets. Better Health Channel advises avoiding hypnosis with severe depression, psychosis, or a drug or alcohol problem. Never listen while driving or operating machinery.

Written by Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist, Adelaide, seeing clients Australia-wide by video. Last updated 25 September 2026.