Responsible Gambling
The world of Gambling, both online and offline, has been known to create issues for a handful of players unable to bet and play responsibly on the popular slot websites. In worst case scenarios this has led to things such as a gambling addiction. Causing players to constantly chase their losses with hopes of gaining it all back, but more often than not this rage betting just results in losing more.
Whilst this represents a very small proportion of all the players that make up the casino market, it still highlights the associated issues with those who don’t take responsible gaming seriously. At Slots Mummy, we’re always looking to promote responsible gameplay among our readers. What better way to do that than give you the low-down on how you can spot and manage problem gambling before it happens. Allowing you to keep a healthy and long relationship with online gaming.
Before you Deposit
Getting into the habit of going through the tasks we’ve listed below will help you get into a responsible mindset before you even begin to play. Allowing you to enjoy the experience at modern slot sites in 2024. Here are a few important factors you should consider before gambling:
Setting a Slots Budget
The first thing to always remember when gambling, is to never spend more than you can afford to lose. So, to combat this, it’s important to put a budget in place and have the self-restraint and discipline to not over-spend. You can set this over a long period of time, but we’d advise it to be daily/weekly, or at the most every month. As, if you spend it quickly, you won’t have long to wait before you get another budget. Unlike if it was to be set annually or every 6 months.
Many online casinos allow you to lock a budget to your account. Making it so that you can only deposit up to the limit that you have set for a specific time frame.
Play at Safe Casinos
Make sure you’re doing all your gaming at a safe, secure and reputable online casino. The first step you can do to ensure this is check they are licensed with the correct gambling authorities. For example, the UK Gambling Commission does a great job putting in place regulations to ensure player safety. Ensuring the brands they license are maintaining high levels of customer wellbeing.
Additionally, you can go one step further and check if their software has been tested by the likes of SQS and eCOGRA. If they have been approved by either of these testing organisations then all of their games are safe to use. Showing high degrees of randomisation, due to their games running with Random Number Generators (RNG).
Play Games for Fun
The reasoning behind your choice to gamble is fundamentally the most important aspect of keeping a responsible playstyle. We all know you can get lucky and make real money from casinos. But, that should not be the priority or main reason why you choose to deposit. You can gain a great amount of enjoyment and entertainment from playing these games, that’s what they were built for. So, that should be your primary focus.
Having this mindset will make you much more willing to accept any losses and take them on the chin. As with any form of entertainment expect to pay for it, so when you do it’s not frustrating. You would have to pay for most other forms of entertainment like watching a live football match, so treat gambling no differently.
Playing Slot Games Responsibly
What you do when you’re actually playing these top slot games is just as important. Here at Slotsmummy, we have a variety of different measures you can put in place to ensure a responsible online betting strategy is in place. Here are a few of our top tips for you when you’re gaming:
Restrict Gaming Time
Setting an allocated amount of time that you will spend gambling, daily or weekly will help. As it means you can monitor how much you are using these services. Ensuring you keep it to a healthy amount and can maintain everything else going on in your life.
This including things such as your work and social life, as well as any other hobbies you have that keep you healthy and happy mentally. As if you were to play for large proportions of the day, this would obviously have a negative impact on these important parts of your life.
Don’t place Bets under the influence
This may seem like an obvious one and it is, but you’d be surprised at how many people actually gamble while intoxicated with alcohol or drugs. They greatly impair your decision-making ability, causing you to act on impulse, potentially betting unaffordable amounts. Which would lead to you waking up in the morning feeling a lot of regret if you lost more than you could afford.
Take Breaks/Don’t chase Losses
This one links in closely with the last one, it’s important to take breaks from betting. As it allows you to clear your mind, focus on different aspects of your life and take your mind off gambling. This is especially important if you hit a losing streak. As the problem with this is a lot of losses will generally create frustration and anger. Which affects your decision making, causing many people to chase after the losses in hopes of a big win coming. To avoid this, simply put down your desktop or mobile device and stop the gaming, take a break and come back when you’ve had time to clear your head and start again, enjoying the games again.
What to avoid when Gaming Online
You may notice that you’re starting to pick up some negative habits or ways of life as a result of gambling. These can often be related to problem gambling and so it’s important to first recognise these and then find ways you can avoid them from re-occurring. Allowing you to maintain gambling as a healthy hobby and past-time. Some of the factors you need to avoid at all costs include the likes of:
Gambling to make quick Cash
As we previously mentioned, placing bets should all be about the fun factor of the games. Not about how much money you could make. As the odds will always favour the house making it more probable that you’ll lose a little. If you become over-reliant on trying to generate money from gambling this is worrying. Especially if it begins to get you into a position of debt, then it may be wise to re-think your decision to gamble.
As a result of debt or being at a financial loss due to gambling, a lot of people can be tempted to borrow money. Then use these funds to gamble with, in the hopes of winning it all back. This is the exact opposite of what a responsible gambler would do. As it can be extremely damaging to your entire life, its simply not worth borrowing to play.
Prioritising Online Gambling
Once players begin to put their habits by playing online slots and other forms of gambling above all else, this can be dangerous. As they often begin to neglect all the other important aspects of life. For example, heavy consumption of casino games will have an adverse effect on your social life. Meaning, you stay in to play games rather than reaping the benefits of a normal social life. The same can be said for work life or anything else that you hold important.
If this main signal for problem gambling is present, it’s likely that the player will struggle to take their mind of gambling at all. Making it an even bigger issue, as the small amount of time spent away from physically gaming, is spent thinking about it. Players will often fantasise about getting a big win, which inspires them to carry on, presenting them with false hope.
Keeping betting habits a secret
Players will often try to keep the truth about their gambling habits bottled up and aware of others. If this is something that applies to you, you need to consider why it is that you are doing this. If you are able to maintain your love for casino as a healthy hobby then there should be nothing to be ashamed of.
But, often with problem gamblers, there will be feelings of shame and embarrassment forcing them to keep it a secret. Likely because they subconsciously know they have an issue but are not yet ready to ask or seek help. If this applied to you we’d highly advise you seek the help you need. You can find more about organisations that help with gambling in the next section.
Charities that help Problem Gamblers
In more recent years there has been a lot of awareness generated around gambling as a whole. Allowing for more help and support to be provided to the people who need it most. If you even have a slight indication that your betting habits are becoming worrying, don’t hesitate to contact some of these organisations:
Gamcare
This is a Nationwide Helpline for all UK gambling players, that provide help seven days a week. You can contact them via online chat, forum, text and telephone, making their support easily accessible. They work with a huge network of gambling treatment services offering more personalised services such as counselling. This is not just a support network for gamblers, but also their families who are struggling to deal with their loved one’s issues.
GamStop
Another brand from the same organisation as Gamcare, offering slightly different services for those with a gambling problem. They offer UK casino players the opportunity to self-exclude from all gambling activities. Providing the casinos are involved in the GamStop initiative (which most are). This can be done for a minimum of six months, all the way up to five years. You then won’t be able to gamble online until the time is up, which is great for those battling with addiction.
BeGambleAware
This charity offers various different methods of support at their website. Educating people on how they can recognise the different symptoms and signs of problem gambling. As well as providing you with the means of seeking advice and/or help for your issues.