Katrina Griffiths
Senior editor
Published on: September 22, 2026
Reality checks, time-outs and cool-offs: the limits that aren’t self-exclusion
Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) sets operating guidelines and policies for licensed casinos to follow. This includes a requirement that every licensed site carry four separate controls that aren’t self-exclusion: limits, breaks, reminders, and a delay on loosening a limit you’ve already set. You set all of them yourself, you can change most of them yourself, and they expire on their own.
While the names get used interchangeably, including by the sites offering them, a cooling-off period isn’t a break from playing, and a reality check isn’t a time limit.
Four controls, four different names
The short definitions first:
- Limits cap what you can deposit, what you can lose, or how long you can spend on the site.
- A break in play stops you betting for a set stretch, then lifts on its own.
- Reminders prompt you to check your limits and your account activity.
- A cooling-off period is the wait before a limit you’ve loosened takes effect.
Cooling-off periods can confuse players. In Alberta’s rulebook, a cooling-off period isn’t a break from gambling; it’s a 24-hour delay attached to relaxing a limit. The break is called a break in play.
All four sit in AGLC’s standards for internet gaming, the handbook every registered operator builds to.
Deposit, loss and time limits
Three controls, measuring three different things:
- Deposit limits cap what you move into the account over a period you choose.
- Loss limits cap what you lose, which is winnings less the amount spent. That’s a different number from what you deposited.
- Time limits cap how long you spend in the parts of the site where games can be played, in increments of one hour at a minimum.
Every site has to offer all three controls over 24 hours, seven days and one month. You can set them at registration or any time after, and the controls must be easy to find and easy to change.
However, where you set overlapping periods, the lowest limit applies. A tight daily cap isn’t overridden by a looser weekly one. So, you can set a generous monthly figure as a backstop and a strict daily figure as the real control, and the daily one is what binds.
Why loosening a limit takes 24 hours
Tightening a limit takes effect immediately, while loosening a limit requires you to wait. Under the standard cooling-off period, only you can request a limit relaxation or removal, and it can only be implemented after a cooling-off period of at least 24 hours.
This delay is why the limit works: the person who sets a weekly cap on a Tuesday afternoon and the person who wants it lifted at eleven on a Saturday night want different things, and the 24 hours decides for them.
Note: an operator can set a longer wait, and some do, so check what your site applies rather than assuming it’s a day.
A break in play is the time-out
Separate from AGLC’s self-exclusion program, every registered operator has to offer a short break. The standard sets five lengths:
- One day.
- One week.
- One month.
- Two months.
- Three months.
Once a break starts, you keep access to your balance, your profile and the responsible gambling controls, so a break doesn’t trap your money: you can still withdraw, and you can still adjust your limits while it runs. However, you can’t place further bets until it runs out.
A break is arranged with the operator, without AGLC paperwork, and it ends on its own. It also covers that one site only. If you hold accounts with three operators, a break at one leaves the other two open, and that ability to keep gambling somewhere else is the practical difference between a break and self-exclusion.
Reminders and reality checks
The mandatory reminders are less frequent than most people assume. Operators must prompt you quarterly to review your limits and monthly to review your financial activity.
The pop-up that interrupts a session to tell you how long you’ve been playing is usually called a reality check or a session reminder. Availability and intervals vary by operator, so look for it in your account settings rather than assuming it’s there and switched on.
Which one to use?
- You want to keep playing but spend less: a deposit or loss limit, set tight on the 24-hour period, with a monthly figure above it as a backstop.
- You’re losing track of time rather than money: a time limit, plus whatever session reminder the site offers.
- You want to stop for a while but come back: a break in play, at the length you actually mean rather than the shortest on the list.
- You want to stop, and you don’t want the decision to be yours next week: that’s self-exclusion, a different tool with a different process.
There’s a useful test for the first three. If you’ve ever waited out a 24-hour cooling-off period to raise a cap, the limit did its job, and it’s also worth knowing you wanted it gone.
Where to go next
These controls are available on every site registered in Alberta, in your account settings, without needing to contact anyone. Check them out and maybe give them a try for 24 hours. The process, the scopes and the terms for the bigger step are in how self-exclusion works in Alberta, and the wider set of protections sits under player protections.
You must be 18 or older to gamble online in Alberta. If gambling is causing problems for you or someone you know, the Alberta Health Services Addiction Helpline is open 24/7 on 1-866-332-2322, and GameSense has free tools and advisors.
