Blog · GuardianBlock

Latest essayExplainer · August 26, 2026 · 6 min read

The Four Ways a Gambling Blocker Can Be Locked - and What Each One Actually Protects Against

A secret someone else holds, a waiting period you cannot skip, a door that does not open until it expires, or a person who approves each exit. They are not the same lock, and the difference decides what happens at 1 a.m.

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A lock is only as good as the question it answers at the moment you want it open.

All essays

Guide · August 26, 2026 · 7 min readMy Partner Agreed to a Gambling Blocker. How Do I Set It Up Without Spying?A consent-first setup guide for the person holding the key: the conversation, the Windows account, the blocker, what you will see, and the exit you agree on before you need it.Read article

How It Works · August 26, 2026 · 4 min readA Gambling Blocker for the Laptop You Own but Also Use for WorkIf your own Windows laptop carries a work VPN or mapped drives, look for a blocker that does not alter your DNS, VPN, proxy, or drive settings. Here is what to check before you install anything.Read article

Essay · August 26, 2026 · 4 min readConsensual Accountability vs. Surveillance: Where the Line Actually IsAccountability is agreed in a calm moment, limited to protection events, symmetric, and has an exit you both know. Surveillance is none of those. The difference is the whole ethics of this category.Read article

Guide · August 26, 2026 · 8 min readOntario Self-Exclusion: BetGuard, OLG My PlayBreak and What Each Covers (2026)One registration covers every regulated online gambling site in Ontario. It does not cover a casino floor, and it does not simply expire. Here is what each program covers, how to register, and what happens when a term ends.Read article

Guide · August 26, 2026 · 7 min readGame Break Self-Exclusion in British Columbia: How to Enrol and What It Covers (2026)BCLC's Game Break covers B.C. gambling facilities and your PlayNow.com account from a single enrolment. The three routes in, the four term lengths, and the end-of-term rule: a Game Break does not end on its own.Read article

Guide · August 26, 2026 · 7 min readSaskatchewan Self-Exclusion: SIGA, SaskGaming Game Break and PlayNow (2026)Three enrolment desks, two program names, and one piece of scope that runs in a single direction. Who runs each program, what each says it covers, how long it runs, and the question the official pages leave open.Read article

How It Works · Updated August 26, 2026 · 4 min readA Gambling Blocker Where Someone Else Holds the KeyThe key is not a password handed to another person. It is continuing authority to approve or deny a specific exit, with clear privacy, cooling-off, and recovery limits.Read article

Buyer’s Guide · Updated August 26, 2026 · 5 min readQuestions to Ask Before You Trust a Gambling BlockerFive checks reveal more than a sweeping promise: how the software appears, who can authorize an exit, what it sees, what happens when it goes quiet, and which limits the company states plainly.Read article

Canada Guide · August 25, 2026 · 5 min readHow to Block Gambling Sites in CanadaStart with the official self-exclusion program that fits your province and operator, then add separately scoped device, payment, and human-support layers.Read article

Research · August 21, 2026 · 3 min readSports Betting Is Bigger. Is It Actually Getting Worse?Legal commercial U.S. sports-betting handle has nearly tripled since 2021. The evidence on harm is more complicated—and more useful when the numbers are kept in their proper lanes.Read article

Research · August 21, 2026 · 3 min readThe $1.1 Billion Attention Machine: What DraftKings' Advertising Budget BuysDraftKings recorded $1.1248 billion in advertising costs in 2025. That is not an NFL budget. It is a company-wide portfolio spanning media and strategic partnerships.Read article

Research · August 21, 2026 · 6 min readHow Many Americans Will Bet on the NFL in 2026? The Honest AnswerThere is no single defensible number. The trade group best placed to publish one did for years, then abandoned the survey behind it and wrote down why—leaving measurements that count dollars, accounts and wagers instead of people.Read article

Research · August 21, 2026 · 4 min readSportsbook Ads Are Down. So Why Does Betting Feel More Inescapable?Television sportsbook spots have fallen from their peak. Betting still reaches football viewers through pregame talk, odds widgets, sponsorships, and media integrations. Both can be true.Read article

Guide · July 17, 2026 · 5 min readGAMSTOP Self-Exclusion: How to Register and What It Covers (2026)A current guide to who can register, what information you need, how long the exclusion lasts, and the separate protections Gamstop Online does not replace.Read article

Guide · July 11, 2026 · 7 min readHow to Block Gambling Apps on an iPhone (2026)Everything you need is already on the phone: Apple's own restrictions can stop new gambling apps, hide the ones already installed, and lock it all behind a passcode. The part that decides whether any of it works is who holds that passcode — and it shouldn't be you.Read article

Practical Guide · Updated August 26, 2026 · 3 min readWhat Is a Gambling Accountability Partner?The useful version is a chosen, bounded support role: enough visibility to carry out an agreed response, without turning the relationship into surveillance.Read article

Research · July 8, 2026 · 6 min readSelf-Exclusion Works, But It LeaksSelf-exclusion is one of the best-evidenced first steps a person worried about gambling can take. It also has edges — the operators it can't touch, the state line it stops at, the clock that runs out — and those edges are where relapse finds a door.Read article

Research · July 5, 2026 · 4 min readThe Gambling Ad Load: How Sports Became a Betting InterfaceSports betting cues no longer live only in commercial breaks. Broadcasts, odds integrations, social feeds, app pushes, host reads, and promos can all turn one game into a cue-rich betting surface.Read article

Research · July 5, 2026 · 4 min readGambling Addiction Searches Rose After Sportsbooks Went MobileA JAMA Internal Medicine study found 23% more gambling-addiction help-seeking searches than expected after the U.S. sports-betting expansion. That figure is about search behavior, not clinical diagnoses. It means the private search signal moved as sportsbooks moved into online, always-available access.Read article

Research · July 5, 2026 · 4 min readWhy Parlays, Props, and In-Play Bets Hit DifferentlyA pre-game wager is one decision. Mobile sportsbooks can turn the same game into dozens of decisions: same-game parlays, player props, live odds, cash-out, boosts, and prompts. The research does not say every feature proves addiction. It says tempo matters.Read article

Research · July 5, 2026 · 4 min readSports Betting's Household Balance Sheet: What the New Research Says About Debt, Savings, and FoodLegal sportsbooks are usually sold as entertainment or tax revenue. Recent research asks a harder question: what happens to household cash, credit, savings, and food when betting moves onto the phone?Read article

Architecture · Updated August 26, 2026 · 3 min readWhy GuardianBlock Doesn't Use DNS or VPN FilteringGuardianBlock is designed around browser policy, local device posture, and chosen-person accountability — not control of the network path. That narrower boundary is deliberate: it is a design boundary, not a compatibility promise for every network setup.Read article

Guide · July 3, 2026 · 5 min readWhen Trading Becomes Gambling: Options, Crypto, and the No-Go ListOptions, crypto, and Robinhood-style apps can be legitimate financial tools. For some people, they also become the place where loss-chasing happens. The honest answer is not to call every brokerage a casino. It is to draw your own no-go line.Read article

Architecture · Updated August 25, 2026 · 4 min readGambling Blockers Without a VPN or DNS: The Real TradeoffNo remote tunnel is not the same as no VPN permission, and no remote DNS service is not the same as no DNS filtering. Compare the exact platform, mode, and system layers before you install.Read article

Opinion · July 2, 2026 · 5 min readIs Kalshi Gambling? Prediction Markets, Sports Bets, and the Fight Over Who Regulates ThemA lawyer's read on Kalshi, Polymarket, and the “event contracts” now landing inside Robinhood and Wealthsimple — where the label says market, the experience says casino, and the safeguards built for gambling don't reach any of it.Read article

Guide · July 2, 2026 · 4 min readWorld Cup Betting Is Everywhere Right Now. Here Is the Survival Plan.If the tournament is a trigger, do the administrative work before kickoff: tell one person, self-exclude where you can, add payment friction, block your devices, and make the next bet less automatic.Read article

Opinion · July 1, 2026 · 2 min readThe World Cup's Other Score: A Generation Primed to GambleThe 2026 tournament is on track to be the most heavily bet sporting event ever staged — built around betting that feels normal, instant, and everywhere.Read article