Back to EvenThe Shield
Blocks every betting app you pick, plus 43 sportsbook, prediction-market, sweepstakes and crypto-casino sites in Safari. Built on Apple’s Screen Time; Apple keeps your app list private, even from us.
For sports betting, prediction markets and online casinos
You don't have to win it back.
Back to Even blocks the apps, closes the loopholes your state ban misses, warns you before kick-off, and gets you through the urge. Your count starts the day you stop chasing.
No account. Your record, your journal and your reasons stay on your phone.
Blocked by Back to Even
The gap nobody mentions
Your state ban covers one door. There are four.
Self-excluding from your state’s list blocks licensed sportsbooks. It doesn’t reach the apps that let you right back in.
State-licensed sportsbooks
DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and the rest. Your state’s self-exclusion list covers these.
Prediction markets
Kalshi, Polymarket and others are federally regulated, open at 18, and not on your state list.
Sweepstakes casinos
Not licensed as gambling at all, so state bans don’t apply.
Offshore & crypto sites
Outside every US list. The only wall is the one on your phone.
What the app does
A wall, a warning, and someone in your corner.
A lock that holds
Lock the Shield for a week, a month, ninety days or a year. Ending it early starts a 72-hour cool-down, which is longer than almost any urge lasts.
Warnings before the risky hours
If games are your trigger, Back to Even reads the schedule and warns you before the risky window opens, ahead of the sportsbook’s push. It talks about times, not teams: for many people the matchup itself starts the urge.
SOS, one tap away
Ninety seconds of breathing with Pip, the bet played forward to its end, your own reasons, and a direct line to 1-800-GAMBLER or your person. Always free.
Calm, for the wave and for every day
Urge surfing, 4-7-8 breathing, 5-4-3-2-1 grounding, a body scan and an evening wind-down. A few guided minutes, with an optional voice. Free, always.
Pip, in your corner
Pip is a small black cat who notices how you’re doing: proud of a streak, soft after a slip, and stern when the urge starts talking. Talk to Pip any time; the chat is optional, uses AI, and isn’t stored by us.
Straight answers
The questions people arrive with.
Is Kalshi gambling?
Legally, Kalshi is a federally regulated exchange for "event contracts", not a sportsbook. That is why state gambling rules, age limits and self-exclusion lists mostly do not apply to it. Practically, staking money on whether a team wins is betting, and it hooks the same way. If you are trying to stop gambling, treat Kalshi, Polymarket and every other prediction market exactly like a sportsbook: exclude yourself and block it.
The full answerDoes my state self-exclusion list cover prediction markets?
No. A state list binds the sportsbooks and casinos licensed by that state. Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are regulated federally and are not on it, and neither are sweepstakes casinos or offshore crypto sites. You have to exclude from each one separately, then block them on your phone so a weak moment cannot route around the ban.
What your ban missesHow do I self-exclude from Kalshi?
In the Kalshi app, open your account settings and find the consumer-protection or responsible-trading section, where you can set deposit limits, take a break or opt out entirely. Kalshi also takes part in SelfExclude, a shared list that covers several apps at once. Do it while you are calm, choose the longest option you can stand, and then block kalshi.com on your phone as well.
Step by stepWhat do I do when the urge to bet hits?
Delay the bet. Not forever, just for ninety seconds. Urges climb, peak and break, usually within twenty minutes. Breathe slowly, then play the bet forward to its end instead of its start: what happens after it hits, and after it doesn’t. Then call or text someone. The goal is not to win the argument with the urge, only to still be standing when it passes.
The 90-second planThe library
10 guides. No odds, no promo codes, no affiliate links.
4 guides
Self-exclusion
One ban is never enough. These guides close each door in turn: the state list, the prediction markets it misses, the sweepstakes casinos it ignores, and the card in your wallet.
2 guidesPrediction markets
They call it trading. Your brain calls it betting. What prediction markets are, why the usual protections do not reach them, and what to do about it.
4 guidesQuitting betting
The mechanics of stopping that actually decide whether it sticks: what to do in the ninety seconds of an urge, how to get through a Sunday, and what a slip does and does not mean.
Prediction markets
Is Kalshi gambling? What prediction markets are, and why it matters if you're trying to stop
Legally it's an exchange. In your head it's a bet. Why both are true, and why the first one is the loophole.
Self-exclusionWhat your state self-exclusion doesn't cover (and how to close the gaps)
The state list closes licensed sportsbooks. Four other doors stay open. Here's how to shut them.
Quitting bettingHow to stop sports betting with a plan that survives game day
Walls first, then game days, then money and people. The order that makes quitting stick.
Quitting bettingChasing losses: why \"getting back to even\" never works
"I'll stop once I'm even" is the trap. Why it feels logical, and how to step out of it.
A guide can’t sit with you at kick-off. The app can.
Everything in the library is the plan. Back to Even is the part that runs at 8:15 on a Sunday night: the wall that is already up, the warning that arrives before the sportsbook’s push, and the SOS one tap away.
- The Shield blocks betting apps and 43 sportsbook, prediction-market and casino sites, using Apple’s Screen Time.
- The lock: once it’s up, taking it down early needs a 72-hour cool-down.
- The Radar warns you before the games you follow.
- SOS: breathe it out, play the tape forward, call for help. Always free.
iPhone · No account · See everything it does
Need to talk to someone right now?
Call or text 1-800-GAMBLER. It’s free, confidential and open 24/7 in the US. In a crisis, call or text 988. More help lines