Rules For A Good Day At The Fair

• Decide your spending money before you walk through the gate — and leave the checkbook at home.
• Set closing time before you start, not after. Fairs are built to make you lose track.
• A losing streak is not an IOU. The midway owes nobody a comeback.
• Sweeps prizes are cotton candy, not groceries — never plan around them.

The Safety Levers

Purchase caps, cool-downs, and self-exclusion exist at every booth in our program, and our attraction pages call out the booths that hide them. Pull the levers while you’re still having fun — that’s when they work.

When The Music Stops Sounding Fun

Spending past the plan, hiding the day’s damage, playing to escape a bad week, snapping when you can’t log in — one is enough. Step off the midway and talk to somebody.

Free Help, Day Or Night

• 1-800-GAMBLER — National Problem Gambling Helpline, 24/7 by phone or text.
• Gamblers Anonymous — meetings in every state; gamblersanonymous.org.
• NCPG — self-screening tools at ncpgambling.org.

No ribbon in this program is worth more than the person holding the ticket. If the fair stops being fun, close the account first and come back only if it ever feels like recreation again.