r/gambling: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
A general gambling board of slot wins, betslips, casino complaints and beginner questions. Casual and jokey, with mods who spend their time clearing out casino promotion.
/r/Gambling · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 332k
- Created
- 2008
- New posts a day
- 32.5
- Comments on a typical post
- 8
- New posts removed
- 26%
The short answer
r/gambling publishes no karma requirement, but the sidebar says posts from accounts under 7 days old are ignored. About a quarter of new posts do not stay up, split almost evenly between Reddit's filters and the moderators. Photos of wins and short text questions are the two staple formats. Keep emoji out of the title, because AutoModerator removes posts for it, and do not post anything that reads like a plug for a casino.
Who posts here
Posts range from an 18 year old asking how to start to regulars talking about hand pays, wagering requirements and house edge without explaining them. Beginner questions stay up and get answered, usually with a warning to set a hard limit or not to start. Bad maths and betting systems get teased, not removed.
- Slot and table players at physical casinos posting photos of a jackpot or a hand pay.
- Online casino and sweepstakes players asking whether a site is legit or why a withdrawal is stuck on verification.
- Sports bettors sharing a betslip or a bad beat.
- Newcomers asking which app or game to start with.
- People who say they have a problem and are telling the story of a bad session.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/gambling.
| Karma | Not stated publicly. |
|---|---|
| Account age | At least 7 days. The sidebar says younger accounts are ignored as a spam precaution.Mods' wording: “Submissions from accounts less than 7 days in age will be ignored in this community.” |
| Title characters | Plain text only. AutoModerator removes posts that use an emoji or other symbol and tells you to resubmit.Mods' wording: “has been automatically removed because you used an emoji or other symbol” |
| Links to your own site | Allowed at roughly one in ten of your posts and comments.Mods' wording: “roughly nine (9) other posts (submissions or comments) should not contain these types of links” |
| Referral links and codes | Allowed only alongside a useful contribution, not as the point of the post.Mods' wording: “only when used to supplement informative/helpful contributions” |
| Post flair | None. No post in our sample carried a flair, and polls are switched off. |
What AutoModerator says
The moderators' bot leaves these messages on posts. They are the closest thing to an official statement of the thresholds.
Thank you for posting to /r/gambling! If you are new here, please remember to read the rules in the sidebar. Don't forget to subscribe and join our Discord! *Have a gambling problem? We strive to promote healthy, responsible gambling in this subreddit. If you feel like your gambling habits are getting out of control, please read our Problem Gambling Wiki.*
Your submission has been automatically removed because you used an emoji or other symbol. Please retry your submission using text characters only.
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 43% |
| Link | Allowed | 4% |
| Image | Allowed | 46% |
| Video | Allowed | 7% |
| Poll | Not allowed | 0% |
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.
- Stayed up73%
- Removed by Reddit's filters13%
- Held by AutoModerator2%
- Removed by moderators12%
- Deleted by the author<1%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
What happened when we posted here
We have posted here ourselves. This is how our own posts and comments fared.
- Stayed up
- 99%
- Removed by Reddit's filters
- 0%
- Removed by moderators
- 1%
- Period
- December 2025 to August 2026
The rules, in the mods' words
- 1
Follow Proper Reddiquette
Please follow proper Reddiquette. This includes trolling, spreading misinformation, starting a flame war, doxxing, insulting others and just being rude in general.
- 2
No Underage Gambling
Gambling age requirements vary by region, but in general, you must be 18+ in order to gamble for real money. You can learn more about the dangers of underage gambling here.
- 3
Have A Gambling Problem?
Sometimes unsubscribing from a community isn't enough. If you believe you have a gambling problem and would like to voluntarily self-exclude yourself from /r/gambling, please send the moderators a message regarding your situation and we will permanently ban you from this subreddit, as well as provide you with some resources regarding the steps to recovery.
- 4
No Begging
Begging for money, clicks, likes, or upvotes will not be tolerated.
- 5
No Blog & Website Spam
Promoting your own blog or website is allowed in this subreddit, but as per Reddit's "Self-Promotion Guidelines": For every one (1) time you post a link to your blog or website, roughly nine (9) other posts (submissions or comments) should not contain these types of links. In general, if a user were to visit your profile, they should not see the same post or comment numerous times in a row.
- 6
No Referral Link & Code Spam
Referral links and referral codes are allowed in this subreddit, but only when used to supplement informative/helpful contributions.
- 7
No Bookie, Agent, & Club Spam
We do not allow posts or comments regarding local bookies, lottery groups, private agents or gambling clubs.
- 8
No Sports Pick Sharing
Sharing your winning (or losing) betslips after the matches have completed is fine, but please do not post your bet predictions in this community. Selling your sports picks or advertising places where you are selling picks is also not allowed, nor are any "fixed" betting related posts.
- 9
No Self Promotion Spam
We do not allow persistent promotion of your Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Telegram or Discord.
- 10
No "DM Me" Comments
Unsolicited direct message spam will not be tolerated, nor will "DM me" or "PM me" comments.
- 11
No Selling Player Accounts
Selling, sharing, or transferring your player account and/or rewards card is strictly prohibited at every reputable casino and gambling site. For the safety of the users in this community, we will not allow contributions of this kind.
- 12
No Survey Posts
Surveys and questionnaires are not allowed in /r/gambling.
- 13
No Astroturfing
Marketing campaigns masked in the form of unsolicited recommendations are not allowed.
These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.
The culture
r/gambling has about 332,000 members and has grown fast, from around 142,000 in 2024. It is a general room. Slots, table games, lotteries, sports betting and online casinos all share one feed, with no flairs to separate them. Images are the biggest post type at about 46%, text is close behind at about 43%, and titles are short, around six words.
The posts that rise are photos of wins. The top of the subreddit is a run of jackpot screens and hand pays with almost no text. Under them sits a steady layer of questions: is this site a scam, why will it not pay out, how do taxes work on a win, what is a sane budget. Comments are short, around 17 words, and split between congratulations, jokes and blunt advice to walk away while ahead.
The fault line is promotion. Online casinos, sweepstakes sites and referral offers push into the feed constantly, and moderators removed about 12% of posts in our sample, most of them posts built around a named site. The rules also ban astroturfing by name. Members are suspicious in the same way: a post praising a site nobody has heard of gets read as an advert.
What lands
- A clear photo of a big win on a machine, with a short plain title. This is the dominant format among top posts.
- A bad beat or near miss told with some humour, like cashing out a long shot just before it would have landed.
- Practical questions with real stakes: tax owed on wins after losing the money back, or payouts and verification at a site.
- A simple preference question, such as small frequent wins against one big hit.
- Honest session stories, including the ones that end with leaving broke.
What gets removed or ignored
- Posts recommending or reviewing a single online casino or sweepstakes site, including ones framed as a casual find or an innocent is this legit question.
- Referral and bonus offers: sign up through me, spots left, message me for free spins.
- Titles with an emoji or symbol in them, which AutoModerator removes on its own.
- Apps, emulators and tools made by the poster, and attempts to sell a casino or its code.
- Sports picks posted before the game, surveys, begging, and anything about local bookies or private clubs. All are banned in the rules.
The unwritten rules
- Screenshots of online wins get doubted. People ask for the story and call fakes, so expect to back a big claim up.
- Do not ask for a share of someone's win. Winners pre-empt it in their posts, and begging is against the rules.
- Bragging about a system invites the house edge lecture. Say it is your own approach and not advice, and the replies stay friendly.
- Naming a little-known site, even to complain about it, is a coin flip with the mods. Complaints about sites were removed in our sample as well as praise.
- Responsible gambling is the house line. AutoModerator comments on posts with a link to the problem gambling wiki, and mods will ban you on request if you want to self-exclude.
Self-promotion
The rules are more permissive on paper than most. You may link your own blog or site at roughly a one in ten ratio, and referral links and codes are allowed when they supplement a helpful contribution. Persistent promotion of a stream, channel or chat group is banned, so are DM me comments, and so is astroturfing, which the rules define as marketing dressed up as an unsolicited recommendation. In practice that last rule does most of the work. Posts that centre on one casino, bonus or app were the bulk of moderator removals in our sample. Some slip through and stay up, but they sit with little response and no upvotes.
How people write here
- Typical post length
- 41 words
- Typical title length
- 6 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 26%
- Typical comment length
- 17 words
- Comments that include a link
- 2%
When people post
- 0:00 UTC, 14
- 1:00 UTC, 22
- 2:00 UTC, 14
- 3:00 UTC, 11
- 4:00 UTC, 20
- 5:00 UTC, 14
- 6:00 UTC, 4
- 7:00 UTC, 11
- 8:00 UTC, 4
- 9:00 UTC, 14
- 10:00 UTC, 15
- 11:00 UTC, 7
- 12:00 UTC, 12
- 13:00 UTC, 18
- 14:00 UTC, 25
- 15:00 UTC, 25
- 16:00 UTC, 35
- 17:00 UTC, 15
- 18:00 UTC, 20
- 19:00 UTC, 22
- 20:00 UTC, 20
- 21:00 UTC, 22
- 22:00 UTC, 19
- 23:00 UTC, 17
New posts by hour of day, UTC.
Top keywords
The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/gambling.
- casino 76 posts
- gambling 35 posts
- casinos 28 posts
- bonus 46 posts
- bet 37 posts
- hit 58 posts
- win 41 posts
- play 49 posts
- playing 34 posts
- blackjack 12 posts
- slots 21 posts
- spin 21 posts
- deposit 25 posts
- games 28 posts
- jackpot 11 posts
- game 36 posts
- bets 18 posts
- slot 18 posts
- huff 8 posts
- spins 14 posts
- online casino 12 posts
- house edge 7 posts
- hand pay 7 posts
- crypto 17 posts
- winnings 11 posts
- online 35 posts
- wins 16 posts
- stake 11 posts
- withdrawal 14 posts
- poker 8 posts
- withdraw 12 posts
- puff 8 posts
- bankroll 8 posts
- online casinos 7 posts
- grand 11 posts
- cash 22 posts
- losses 11 posts
- wagering 7 posts
- odds 12 posts
- gamble 8 posts
Recurring topics: casino, online, betting, app, win, bonus, sports, casinos, gambling, hit.
Growth
- 2012654
- 20131.3k
- 20142.3k
- 20153.4k
- 20164.6k
- 20176.4k
- 201923k
- 202038k
- 202156k
- 2023101k
- 2024143k
- 2025242k
- 2026332k
Related subreddits
- r/onlinegambling
- r/Casino
- r/OnlineCasinoGambling
- r/slots
- r/Stake
- r/WiseCryptoGambler
- r/CoinBase
- r/blackjack
- r/sportsbetting
- r/BritishSuccess
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/gambling?
No karma number is published. The only stated gate is account age: the sidebar says submissions from accounts less than 7 days old are ignored. About 12% of posts in our sample were also removed by Reddit's own filters, which the subreddit does not control.
Can I promote a casino, betting site or referral code in r/gambling?
Only within narrow limits. The rules allow a link to your own site about once in every ten contributions, and referral codes only as a supplement to a useful post. Astroturfing, DM me comments and repeated promotion of social channels are banned. Posts built around a single named site were the most common moderator removals in our sample.
Why was my r/gambling post removed?
Common causes are an account under 7 days old, an emoji or symbol in the title, a post that looks like promotion for a site or bonus, a sports pick posted before the event, or a survey. Roughly 12% of posts in our sample were removed by moderators and another 12% by Reddit's filters.
What kind of posts work in r/gambling?
Photos of wins and short text questions. Images make up about 46% of posts and text about 43%. Titles are short, around six words, and the typical post gets seven or eight comments. Tax questions, payout problems and bad beat stories draw the most discussion.
Data as of October 4, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
