Where to get help for gambling problems in Serbia

If you’re worried about your gambling, or someone else’s, you can get help today. The Special Hospital for Addiction Disorders in Belgrade has a 24-hour emergency service. This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Where can you get help?

Serbia has no national gambling helpline that we could verify. The Games of Chance Administration’s 2026 guidance for players names two institutions in Belgrade that treat gambling problems, and the university clinical center in Niš has an addiction department:

Special Hospital for Addiction Disorders, Belgrade

The Special Hospital for Addiction Disorders is the institution named on the Ministry of Health’s mandatory addiction poster, which gambling venues and top-up points must display.

• Day hospital for non-chemical addictions. A group program based on cognitive behavioral therapy for behavioral addictions, mainly pathological gambling, running since 2010. It lasts at least two years; first-phase groups meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 09:00 to 13:00, and family members are encouraged to take part.
• MOST club. The hospital’s club of treated gamblers, “Klub lečenih kockara MOST”, was founded on May 24, 2016, and meets monthly from 16:30 to 19:30.
• Hours. Monday to Friday 07:00–20:00 and Saturday 07:00–14:00 (the hospital’s homepage gives 07:30 on Saturdays); admissions clinic Monday to Friday 07:30–14:00; emergency service 24 hours a day.
• Contact. Teodora Drajzera 44, 11000 Belgrade; +381 11 3671 429 or +381 11 2662 727; zavodzbz@eunet.rs.

Institute of Mental Health, Belgrade

The Institute of Mental Health’s addiction clinic (Klinika za bolesti zavisnosti) diagnoses and treats pathological gambling, as well as video-game and computer addiction. Its addiction day hospital runs programs for “non-chemical addictions” (video-game or internet addiction and pathological gambling), alongside a six-week psycho-educational program on weekdays from 12:00 to 13:30, a family-therapy day hospital and family clubs. The day hospital is open Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 15:00.

It’s at Milana Kašanina 3, 11000 Belgrade; call +381 11 3307 500 or email info@imh.org.rs. Some older materials give an earlier address, but the institute’s own site and the regulator’s 2026 brochure give Milana Kašanina 3.

Outside Belgrade

In southern Serbia, the University Clinical Center Niš’s Center for Mental Health Protection has an addiction department (Odeljenje za bolesti zavisnosti). Its page doesn’t mention gambling specifically, so call its outpatient information line, 018 423-87-07 (08:00–14:00), or email mentalno.zdravlje@kcnis.rs to ask.

Check your own gambling

The Games of Chance Administration publishes a self-assessment questionnaire, “Upitnik za samoprocenu rizika od kockanja”, with nine statements based on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. You can find it on the Administration’s site. If your answers worry you, contact one of the services above.

Self-exclusion and limits

Every online casino approved in Serbia must offer these tools (Law on Games of Chance, Art. 95a):

• Self-exclusion for at least 24 hours, or permanently. A permanent exclusion can’t be withdrawn before 12 months.
• Deposit limits that you set yourself. The operator’s system must also let you set loss limits.

When you exclude yourself, the operator must block your access immediately and report the exclusion to the Games of Chance Administration, which passes it on to every other approved online operator where you have an account. Operators must also check the Administration’s register before opening a new account, and refuse to register you while the exclusion lasts, and they must not let you play while you’re self-excluded.

You can request self-exclusion through your account, on the operator’s website or in writing at its premises, and set limits in writing or electronically. The law requires staff who deal with players, including online customer service, to be trained in preventing addiction (Art. 6).

See what you’ve spent. Your account must always show the last three months of transactions, and the operator must give you up to five years of history within five days if you ask.

These protections apply only at approved operators; sites without a Serbian approval aren’t part of the shared self-exclusion. Our guide to whether online casinos are legal in Serbia explains how to check a site.

Report an illegal gambling site

If a site offers games of chance in Serbia without approval, report it to the Games of Chance Administration:

• by email: igre.na.srecu@uis.gov.rs;
• by phone: +381 11 765 2701;
• by post: Uprava za igre na sreću, Balkanska 53, 11000 Belgrade.

The Administration’s May 2026 guidance, “Nelegalne igre na sreću na internetu – prepoznati, izbeći, prijaviti” (illegal online games of chance: recognize, avoid, report), warns that illegal operators use influencer marketing, false “licenses” and “seals”, and pressure to “win back losses”.

Practical steps

1. Talk to someone. Call the Special Hospital for Addiction Disorders (+381 11 3671 429) or the Institute of Mental Health (+381 11 3307 500).
2. Take the self-test. Go through the Administration’s nine statements honestly.
3. Exclude yourself. One request at an approved operator is passed on to every approved online operator where you have an account.
4. Lower your limits. Set deposit and loss limits that fit your budget.
5. Look at the numbers. Check your last three months of transactions, or ask for up to five years.
6. Stay away from unapproved sites. They aren’t part of the shared self-exclusion.

Help for family members

Both Belgrade institutions work with families: the Special Hospital’s gambling program involves the family, and the Institute of Mental Health runs a family-therapy day hospital and family clubs. If someone close to you is struggling, you can contact either one about these programs.

The bottom line

Serbia has no verified national gambling helpline, but the Special Hospital for Addiction Disorders (+381 11 3671 429) and the Institute of Mental Health (+381 11 3307 500) in Belgrade treat gambling problems. Self-exclusion at one approved online operator is passed on to the others where you have an account, and a permanent one can’t be lifted for 12 months. Report illegal sites to igre.na.srecu@uis.gov.rs.