How To Gamble Responsibly
- The Best Way to Play Responsibly. Online casino sites have joined forces with the government to.
- Budget very carefully: by ensuring that you know exactly how much you have to spend, it becomes.
- How to gamble responsibly. It is against the law for those under the age of 18 to gamble and bet365 takes its responsibility to prevent underage gambling very seriously.
Quitting your job or favorite hobbies to gamble. Being physically unable to take breaks from gambling. Spending less time with your family just to gamble more. If one or more of the items on the above list applies to you, then there is a high chance that you have a gambling problem.
Gambling can become seriously addictive, especially if you do not know how to control it. Betting responsibly means that you will be able to control your betting and that it will not create a negative impact or make your life unmanageable. Here are a few tips.
Set a Budget and Stick to It
There are many casino games to play, all of them are promising big winnings. But this should not be a reason for you to gamble all your money. For instance, if you choose to play Book of Dead, one of the most popular slots, start with the lowest bet limits and only increase your bet if you are winning. This slot promises to increase your bet up to 5000 times. But remember, don’t bet with your rent money.
Don’t Think of It as a Money-making Opportunity
Euro 2020 is around the corner and most casino operators are ready to start giving out odds. Many gamblers are waiting for it to make money, but if you want to be a responsible gambler in the coming year, then think of this as an entertainment opportunity for you, your family and friends.
Set a Money Limit
Most casino operators will give you a chance to set your betting limit. If they do not, you can set it for yourself. Just choose the maximum amount you are willing to spend. It’s also a good idea to set a time limit: is it an hour, two? Don’t forget to make time for your other important daily activities as well.
Don’t Chase Losses
Some days you’ll win, and some days you’ll lose. But as long as you are sticking to your budget, you are doing fine. Gambling more in the hopes that you will recover your money is what is called chasing losses. Avoid doing this and know that you will not win every day, and you will not lose every day.
Don’t Be Too Superstitious
We all know that gambling depends on how lucky you are. But it will also depend on how well you understand the game. No amount of superstitions will bring back your money or increase your chances of winning.
Don’t Play with What You Don’t Have
One of the biggest mistakes that you can make in 2020 is to gamble with borrowed money or a credit card. Gambling is meant to be fun so if you can’t afford it, don’t do it.
Related Articles:
Avoid Gambling When Drunk
Gambling is usually accompanied with all fun and all the party related things. It is always advisable to stop betting when you are under the influence of alcohol since it impairs your judgement.
Avoid Gambling if You Are Upset or Depressed
It is hard to make a decision when you are worried or upset. When you want to gamble, clear your mind and do it when you are happy.
Balance Gambling with other Past-time Activities
Betting should not be the only thing that you do in your free time. For good peace of mind, engage in other hobbies as well.
Always Take Breaks
It’s common to lose track of time whenever you gamble. To avoid this, step out and get some fresh air. If playing at a casino, you can take the seclusion time, which limits you from using the casino at a certain point.
Don’t forget to seek help from friends and family if you think you are addicted to gambling. You can also contact GamCare.
Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash
Should teenagers gamble? Should senior citizens? What about someone with an income beneath the poverty line? By definition, teenagers shouldn’t gamble. They don’t have the mental faculties or maturity necessary to gamble responsibly.
How To Gamble Responsibly
Some senior citizens shouldn’t gamble, but most find a way regardless. It really depends on their mental and emotional wellbeing.
Most people really ought to consider their individual circumstances and answer this question for themselves, but I do have some advice and suggestions about what to think about when making that decision. Not everyone should gamble, but everyone who does should gamble responsibly.
This post compares and contrasts several types of responsible and irresponsible gambling behaviors. The goal is to provide you with the proper tools to judge how well your gambling behavior measures up.
If you find yourself struggling to take a break from gambling, consider reaching out to gambling addiction resources. It’s okay to ask for help.
Responsible Gamblers Only Gamble With Money They Can Afford to Lose
I’ll propose that the most important criterion for judging responsible gambling concerns money. If you can’t afford to lose it, you shouldn’t bet it.
An example of a responsible gambler might look like this:
Joe saves 10% of his pay every week through the end of the year to build a bankroll. Since he earns $30,000 a year, he has a bankroll of $3000 to start his poker career with.
He uses that money to play poker, and he sets aside any money he wins from playing poker to increase the size of his bankroll. After another year, he saved $3000 more from his job, AND he’s won another $6000 playing cards.
He now has a bankroll of $12,000, which means he can play poker for higher stakes than he used to. This increases his earn rate, too. Eventually, Joe earns $30,000 a year from his poker career, and his bankroll grows to $50,000. He quits his job to play poker professionally.
This not only exemplifies responsible gambling, it demonstrates the kind of time and discipline required to gamble as an advantage gambler.
But Joe’s brother, Bobby, makes the same amount of money, but instead of waiting to build his bankroll, he starts playing blackjack (a negative expectation game) with $120 per week. At the end of the year, he tallies up his losses to find that he’s down $120 for the year.
Bobby gambles less responsibly than his brother Joe, but as long as the bills get paid, you can’t really fault him or claim a lack of responsibility on his part.
Sure, he loses money, but his bills get paid. He handles his and his family’s needs in a timely manner.
Finally, it might help to look at the youngest brother, Billy. He gambles on slot machines once a month, but the amount he gambles changes based on his mood and how much he drinks.
Some weeks, he wins a little money, but he always loses those winnings and then some. He even once hit a $1000 jackpot, but only after losing $2000 total in the six months prior to that win.
And he pays his rent late almost every month. He could live in a nicer apartment if he’d bite the bullet long enough to start paying his rent on time. Eventually, he loses so much money that he has to take in a roommate.
Those three examples show a descending order of responsibility. Joe demonstrates the most responsible behavior, although Bobby doesn’t behave terribly. Billy borders on irresponsible, but some gamblers demonstrate even worse behavior.
How Do You Define Problem Gambling and How Does It Relate to Responsible Gambling?
National Center For Responsible Gambling
Responsible gamblers have fun and recognize gambling as an entertainment expense. They recognize the risks involved. They also understand that most gamblers lose most of the time, regardless of whether they buy lottery tickets, playing slot machines, or betting on boxing matches.
Responsible gamblers also take pains to protect themselves and their families from the ravages from problem gambling.
Problem gamblers THINK about gambling differently from their responsible cousins. They usually think that if they play long enough, they will surely hit a jackpot. Problem gamblers hide their gambling from their friends and relatives, and they jeopardize relationships without much thought.
Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking gambling will make you money. Bingo halls, bookmakers, casinos, the lottery, and poker rooms build their businesses on winning more money in the long run than they pay out.
Over any significant length of time, the vast majority of gamblers lose more money than they win. Sure, a tiny percentage of gamblers win big money. But they can do that because of all the other gamblers who lose money.
The idea that you will eventually win a big jackpot and catch up on all your previous losses poisons your mind and devastates your financial health. With that being said, remember to always manage your bankroll properly.
Responsible Gamblers Follow Some Simple, Common Sense Rules
Don’t conclude from this that I oppose gambling. I support gambling, but I only support responsible gambling. And as luck would have it, responsible gamblers have several behaviors in common.
#1 – Responsible Gamblers Never Gamble Money They Can’t Afford to Lose
You might find this glaringly obvious, but problem gamblers never seem to prevent themselves from betting money they need for something else.
What does it mean to use money you can afford to lose? If I found burning money satisfying and entertaining, could I afford to burn that amount of money for sheer entertainment purposes?
No matter how you gamble, in the long run, you’ll lose more money than you win. The companies taking or facilitating your bets set the system up that way.
For a gambler to win $1000 on a slot machine, other gamblers need to lose $1100 on that slot machine. For a poker player to win $1000 at poker, the other players must lose that money, along with an additional amount that the house takes from each pot, the rake. (Most cardrooms take 5% of every pot to pay for hosting the table. This replaces the house edge in real money casino gambling.)
For a sports bettor to win $1000 on a sports bet, someone somewhere must be losing $1100 to pay for it. Most gamblers, because of the nature of the business, fall on the losing side of that equation.
#2 – Responsible Gamblers Don’t Chase Losses
What do I mean by “chase losses?”
You chase losses when you keep gambling after losing. You play with the intention of winning back what you’ve lost. Many gamblers fall for something called the gambler’s fallacy—the belief that eventually, the luck must even out over time. If you’ve lost several times in a row, winning must become more likely, right? Wrong.
The odds don’t change based on previous events. If the ball lands on red in roulette 99 times in a row, the probability that it will land on red the 100th time remains 47.37%. Every spin of the roulette wheel happens independently of the previous spins.
#3 – Responsible Gamblers Set Gambling Loss Limits and Time Limits
Casinos do their best to make this a chore. The lack of clocks in a casino makes it hard to know how long you’ve been gambling. Without predefined limits, you’ll lose more money than you can afford to even than you expect.
Responsible gamblers set a goal of making intelligent, prudent decisions. Doing that requires a clear head and a reasonable state of mind. They also avoid alcohol while playing because overconsumption of alcohol can lead to bad decisions.
Finally, a responsible gambler understands the importance of balancing gambling with other activities. They eat out at restaurants, see shows, and have an entire life outside of gambling. They pursue other hobbies besides just gambling.
Conclusion
I hope to encourage my readers to gamble responsibly. Knowing what responsible gambling looks like might pose a conundrum to some folks, which is why I’ve listed so many examples of good and bad gambling behavior.
Don’t let anyone tell you whether or not you should gamble. That decision belongs to you. But do gamble as responsibly as you can.