Help After a Night at Treasure Cove

IGCO, the Independent Gambling Control Office, runs Gambling Support BC, the province's free help program. The number is 1-888-795-6111. It is toll-free and answers 24/7, through every dark winter night. A navigator can help you on the spot, find local services or book counselling for you.

Family and friends hurt by another person's gambling can phone as well, and the help they get is the same. The person who gambled is not the only one who can call. Its website is gamblingsupportbc.ca.

Inside Treasure Cove there is a GameSense Info Centre. GameSense is BCLC's program, and its purpose is plain: it explains how the games work and how to keep play in check. You can stop by on the way in, before the first hand or the first bingo card, or later if the evening starts to drift.

Game Break is BCLC's self-exclusion. You settle on 6 months or on 1, 2 or 3 years, and the length is locked once you choose. One agreement bars you from BC gaming facilities, Treasure Cove included, and from play on PlayNow.com.

You enrol in person, bringing government photo ID, with a gaming worker at a casino or at a community gaming centre. It can also be done by video meeting with BCLC staff, from your own kitchen table if that feels easier.

Before you leave the house, fix a spending limit and keep to the number you chose there, not one that feels right later. If you are staying over at Prestige Treasure Cove Resort, leave the bank card in the room. Every casino game is set up with an edge for the house. So the limit is what the evening costs, not money to win back.