Whilst gambling entertainment is enjoyable for many people and a sociable hobby, the risk of problem gambling developing can occur if it’s not done responsibly, as it involves assessing and controlling addiction.
Bettors are advised to sign up for Gambline}$, Gamblers Anonymous or Gamblers Anonymous meetings, quit their daytime jobs, seek the help of addiction professionals by acknowledging their problem, and more. These responsible gambling tips include: Set aside a time limit; gamble only within your budget; never chase loses; take regular breaks; make sure you have other pursuits outside of gambling; set time limits to create a healthy boundary between your gambling activities and other forms of entertainment.
Limits
First, set a budget to restrict the amount of money you gamble with and do not exceed it. Playing within this budget allows you to enjoy the activity as recreation and not allow the activity to interfere with or diminish important living and financial obligations.
Many online gambling sites now offer tools to help their customers restrict their own time and money limit, including information in responsible gaming or account settings pages. Some sites will also offer cooling-off periods and contexts in which customers can self-exclude from their accounts for periods of time.
However, new data from Sydney University shows that such tools are not particularly effective with customers: only 0.7 per cent of people sent in-account limit reminders log in and set a deposit limit. Perhaps they don’t reach those most at risk, or perhaps they remind them only to do what they would have done anyway.
Self-exclusion
Many people discover that gambling harms themselves, their families and friends, either financially, through addiction or both. For the customer, people who want to make sure they stay in control of gambling need to have time and money limits and must never gamble more than they can afford to lose, which is a form of responsible gambling. RG also means that, when the fun stops, gamblers should stop, as well as taking regular breaks from gambling. For this reason, gambling providers should always offer the option to customers for self-exclusion, either from a particular product or permanently.
Recent meta-analyses that have considered perceived self-exclusion prevalence suggest that about 0.2 per cent of global adult populations currently participate in self-exclusion programmes. However, as this recent meta-analysis derived its findings from other studies that were very different in terms of survey items, measurement timepoints and sampling frames, the quality of data is likely to be very low.
Also, studies indicated that those participants who breached their self-exclusion were far more likely to be classified as problem gamblers when compared with those who didn’t breach it – which coincides with the transtheoretical model of behavioural change that suggests problem gamblers who breach their exclusion are already in the precontemplation stage for behavioural change and perhaps non-receptive to help.
Time-out periods
Gambling responsibly means that you set time and money limits, never gamble when you are upset, depressed, or recovering from an injury, and do not view gambling as a way to make back your losses once you are finished playing (known as chasing your losses). Additionally, it means that you take scheduled breaks and engage in other activities before returning to gambling. Finally, do not gamble with money you need for food, clothing or childcare. This will ensure you stick to your time and money budgets and also that you do not let problem gambling negatively impact your life.
Even though in adult life gambling could be an entertaining recreational activity, in the case, when a player has the problem of addiction or a mental disorder, it becomes dangerous. Players suffering from gambling problems can face severe consequences – obsession, battles with friends or family, poverty and eventually grounds for getting into bankruptcy. Betting on sports people are required to gamble more responsibly, which is not that easy. However, it is possible to do it by employing various strategies – take the examples below: knowing how much time to spend, using Facebook/Instagram or taking any money from others, betting when emotionally distressed are possible consequences for responsible gambling.
Reality checks
Reality checks are a great way of helping players maintain control over their gambling. These are typically required by an operator under a responsible gaming strategy and can be configured to the user’s preferences. They promote positive gambling behaviour that reduces financial hardship and keeps addiction at bay.
Consequently, various tools have been developed by licenced gambling sites such as deposit limits, self-exclusion and cooling-off periods, in order to encourage responsible gambling. These tools intended for healthy gaming habits include: self-exclusion to bar oneself, or a third party to bar a friend, from participating in gambling; cooling-off periods enabling users to block an account for a few days while still being able to re-activate the account later; warning systems that assess user’s session time, deposits and losses and restrict their access to the site if certain patterns are detected: for example, ‘pinging’ the exit door after 20 minutes of gaming: ‘Open the account?’ ‘Ask Alexander, he is still here playing…’ alerts players regarding their losses accumulated thus far (win/loss trackers); and tools encouraging responsible play such as the Bet Slip: allowing users to set deposit limits and/or take a time-out during a game to limit potential losses; and tools that urge players not to chase losses. Whenever signs of problematic gambling have been spotted, one should rapidly turn to either an advice service or, better, to one’s friends and relatives for guidance.