The debut of legal sports betting and online casino gambling in Connecticut is days or perhaps weeks away, but a precautionary tool went live Thursday: A chance for people to ban themselves from virtual gambling even before it starts.

A voluntary self-exclusion program operated by the Department of Consumer Protection will enable anyone to bar themselves from virtual gambling for one year, five years or life.

Safeguards against problem gambling got relatively little attention during the General Assembly’s legalization debate in May, leaving those details to Consumer Protection, the agency responsible for regulating gambling.