Gambling, Alcohol and Other Addictions: How They Are Linked

Why these problems arrive together

If you drink heavily and gamble, you are not unusual. The two habits feed each other in ways that are easy to miss when you are inside them. Alcohol lowers your guard, so a limit you set at the start of the evening stops feeling like a limit. Gambling, especially on machines or fast online games, pushes adrenaline and dopamine up, and the come-down afterwards is often what people reach for a drink to smooth out.

The same pattern shows up with other substances. A bad run at the tables can trigger a night of drinking or drug use, and a hangover or a comedown can trigger a session of gambling to feel something again. Depression and anxiety sit in the same loop. Gambling can be a way of numbing low mood, and losses deepen the low mood, which makes the next session more likely.

This is why the screening tools that regulators and operators use do not ask about gambling alone. The Responsible Gambling Council's public guidance treats safer play as a set of habits that sit alongside the rest of your life, not a separate box¹. When a service screens you, expect questions about drinking, mood, sleep and money as well as betting.

What the screening tools actually ask

A self-check is not a diagnosis. It is a short set of questions designed to flag whether your gambling has started to cause harm, and most versions also pick up on the things that travel with it.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club publishes a self-test on its responsible gambling pages, and the same site runs a problem gambling help section for people who want to talk to someone⁸. In Japan, the Public Sports Gambling Addiction Counseling Center offers a self-check tool alongside phone and email counseling, so you can start privately and only make contact if you want to⁴.

Macau's Responsible Gambling Kiosks go further. They offer a gambling disorder assessment that produces a printable behavior report, plus a 24-hour helpline and interactive games, and they are open to both Macau residents and visitors⁵. If you are in Macau for work or a holiday and something feels off, you can walk up to a kiosk and get a structured read on your own behavior without booking anything.

The point of these tools is not to label you. It is to give you and whoever you speak to next a shared starting point, including whether drinking or low mood is part of the picture.

Where the links show up in Asia's services

Different jurisdictions have built this out to different depths, but the pattern is consistent: the gambling service is also a doorway to mental health and substance support.

In Hong Kong, four counseling and treatment centers share a single gambling counseling hotline, 1834 633, and the line is staffed for people with gambling disorder and their family members². The Ping Wo Fund exists specifically to pay for counseling, treatment and support for problem gamblers, which is why the centers can offer more than a phone call⁷. The Jockey Club's responsible gambling pages also point to organizations that can help, including specific help for a young person who is struggling¹¹.

In Singapore, the National Problem Gambling Helpline and WebChat runs counseling services alongside self-exclusions, family exclusions, third party exclusions and exclusions by law³. That matters for co-occurring problems because the same service can handle the practical side, like keeping you out of a venue, while you deal with drinking or depression elsewhere. The helpline number is 1800-6-668-668, and you can use webchat if you want to stay anonymous¹².

In Japan, the picture is more fragmented but still workable.

In the Philippines, the regulator has pushed gambling operators to replace advertising with problem gambling helpline materials, and the National Problem Gambling Helpline is described as a 24/7 support platform for people struggling with gambling-related issues¹⁸.

What operators are required to do

Rules aimed at operators matter to you because they decide what happens when you ask for help at a venue or on a site.

In Japan, casino operators must implement usage restriction measures and consultation counters based on addiction prevention rules, triggered by requests from entrants and their families⁶. In practice that means you or a relative can ask the operator to restrict your access, and there is a counter to go to rather than a general inquiries desk.

Korea's Sportstoto Responsible Gaming Code requires retailers to notify customers about addiction risks and helpline numbers at the shops, and the operator has developed self-diagnosis for gambling-indulged players and self-exclusion¹⁹. If you buy lottery or sports betting tickets in Korea, the helpline information should be in front of you at the point of sale.

Macau's kiosks are the most visible version of this in Asia. They provide responsible gambling information, electronic applications for self-exclusion and problem gambling family counseling, a gambling disorder assessment with a printable behavior report, a 24-hour helpline and interactive games, for residents and visitors⁵. There is also a community version of the kiosks placed across social service centers, including the Social Welfare Bureau's problem gambling prevention and treatment division and a long list of family service centers around the territory²⁰.

Singapore's Gambling Regulatory Authority lists patron assistance and patron education and help services among its harm minimization measures, which is the framework behind what you will find on the floor of a licensed venue²¹.

Self-exclusion when more than one thing is going on

Self-exclusion is the single most practical step if you are dealing with gambling and drinking together, because it removes the option at the moment your judgment is weakest.

Singapore's National Council on Problem Gambling runs self-exclusions and visit limits, family exclusions and visit limits, third party exclusions and visit limits, and exclusions by law³. Family exclusion orders let a relative apply to keep you out, and there is a process to revoke a family exclusion order if circumstances change¹³. If you are also drinking heavily, a family exclusion can be the thing that holds when your own resolve does not.

In Macau, self-exclusion applications can be made electronically at the kiosks, which means you do not have to explain yourself at a casino cage⁵. In Japan, the usage restriction measures required of casino operators can be triggered by you or your family⁶.

One practical note: self-exclusion deals with gambling access, not with drinking. If alcohol is part of the problem, you will want a separate plan for that, and the counseling services above can usually point you to it. The self-exclusion schemes compared page sets out how the different Asian schemes work and how long they last.

If you are a visitor or an expat

The rules and services do not always follow you across a border, and this is where people get caught out.

In Macau, the Responsible Gambling Kiosks are explicitly for both residents and visitors, so you can use the assessment, the self-exclusion application and the 24-hour helpline without being a local⁵. That is unusual in the region and worth knowing if you are there on a work posting.

In Hong Kong, the gambling counseling hotline 1834 633 is run by the four counseling and treatment centers and is available to people with gambling disorder and their family members, without a residency condition stated². The Jockey Club's help pages list organizations that can help, including for young people¹¹.

In Singapore, the National Problem Gambling Helpline and WebChat is the front door, and webchat lets you stay anonymous if you would rather not give a name¹². If you are an expat dealing with drinking as well, the counseling services attached to the helpline are the sensible first call.

In Japan, the toll-free line 0120-321-153 and the 24-hour web reservation form are the two entry points a non-Japanese speaker can navigate, though Japanese-language service is the norm⁴. The pachinko-specific line run by the Recovery Support Network covers that game¹⁶.

For a fuller picture of what is available to people who are not citizens, see gambling help for expats and visitors.

Recent changes worth knowing about

A few things have moved recently that affect how help is delivered.

In Singapore, the second tranche of amendments to the Casino Control (Amendment) Act 2024 took effect on September 21, 2026, expanding the offense of recording games to cover non-card games such as gaming machines²². The same date saw problem gambling saving and transitional provisions come into operation, continuing old-law exclusions, visit limits, applications and appeals under the new law²³. If you had an exclusion or a visit limit in place before that date, it did not lapse.

Where to start today

If you are dealing with gambling and something else at the same time, the order you do things in matters less than starting.

• Call a helpline. Singapore: 1800-6-668-668¹². Hong Kong: 1834 633². Japan: 0120-321-153⁴. Philippines: the National Problem Gambling Helpline, a 24/7 platform¹⁸.
• Take a self-check. Hong Kong's Jockey Club self-test⁸, Japan's Public Sports Gambling Addiction Counseling Center self-check⁴, or KEIRIN.JP's self-check tool¹⁵.
• If you are in Macau, use a kiosk. Assessment, printable behavior report, self-exclusion application and a 24-hour helpline, for residents and visitors⁵.
• Ask about the other thing. When you call, say that drinking, drugs or low mood is part of the picture. The services above are set up to refer on, and in Hong Kong the Ping Wo Fund pays for counseling, treatment and support⁷.
• Consider a family exclusion if your own resolve keeps failing. Singapore allows family, third party and by-law exclusions as well as self-exclusion³.
• Use a blocker. Free gambling site blocker apps can restrict or limit your access, which helps most in the moments when you are least able to say no¹.

If you want to understand what you are dealing with before you call anyone, the pages on what gambling disorder is and signs of a gambling problem are a calm place to start. If a family member is the one struggling, signs a family member has a gambling problem and help for families of gamblers cover what you can do. And if gambling has brought you to a crisis point, crisis lines across Asia lists the numbers that answer.