How to Prevent a Gambling Addiction
In recent years, during my work on preventing gambling problems, I have come to see the importance of intervening before a problem develops.
In the long run, prevention saves vast fortunes in money, time, and effort. Although there are huge benefits in preventing the addiction process, it is an area very much neglected.
This context could be gained from an online search about how to prevent gambling addiction with informative content attacking the issues of cure and quitting.
The approach to health should not be limited to treatment, however, ignoring prevention benefits no one; it's like tackling an overflowing sink by mopping the floor underneath it. You may not be in this trouble if you'd only started by averting the problem from the outset.
How do you prevent a gambling addiction?
- Set a money limit before gambling
- Set a time limit on your gambling
- Play for entertainment rather than making money
- Understand how the games work.
Let’s take a closer look at what this means, in terms of gambling in a casino environment.
Set a Money Limit
Bring a set amount of cash and leave cards at home.
By leaving your cards at home but bringing cash in a set amount for gambling, you are less likely to spend more than you had planned.
Staying away from credit/debit cards means that you no longer have to go to the ATM madly to check balances and constantly withdraw cash, thus avoiding ATM fees altogether.
How do you set your budget?
Consider the value of gambling as a form of entertainment to foresee some of the variations there may be. This figure is likely different for everyone. How much do you usually spend on a night out for entertainment?
Whatever budget you decide on, expect to spend the full amount.
Why expect to spend the full amount?
First of all, because before employing a gambling strategy, you must consider the most obvious scenario-the casino having a built-in edge over the player.
Moreover, the whole psychology of spending just to the end of the budget creates a barrier to disappointment for what a significant no-no is the attempt to win back the lost dollars by gambling even more.
Set an Upper Limit
Ever find yourself ahead, just to put the money back in and spend it all?
This may be a more advanced budgeting form that may be useful for those who find themselves ahead to be able to walk away.
Setting the upper limit means establishing a number that you would feel at ease leaving with should you find yourself in an advantageous position.
If your upper limit is $20 and you find yourself up $30, you would keep playing till such time as your account goes down to $20 ahead.
By setting an upper limit, you increase the odds that you will stop while you are ahead.
Though maintaining the mentality that the full amount of your budget will always get spent is helpful, it's good to have well-defined limits for when you want to leave the game ahead.
Use a Separate Wallet
Nonetheless, it is helpful to you once you have come out ahead. A separate gambling wallet puts the excess that you have to spend on gambling apart from your everyday budget.
Having a “fun money” wallet also helps you keep track of when you have excess money. This way, your gambling budget can sometimes be completely separate from your regular entertainment budget.
Set a Time Limit
Plan your visit beforehand.
Gambling differs from going to the cinema or to a restaurant because there is no time-frame. You can play indefinitely until you take up that process to some extent by entering a facility that's open for 24 hours a day and being provided the cash needed to continue.
Before going to the venue, have a specific time-frame in mind.
Set an alarm as a reminder.
Losing one's sense of time in a casino is a very easy thing to do. The casinos themselves are designed very often to disorient, without windows or clocks to remind one of the time.
Because minutes can slip away from you so easily, maybe a reminder on your phone-a reminder that would signal your time to start heading home-might help. This way, you could focus on the entertainment while remembering when you intended to leave.
Consider how often you would like to gamble.
In addition to time spent each visit, it is also important to keep your gambling frequency in mind. Is it something you want to set for weekends? For special events? Or are you gambling a couple of days each week?
Play For Entertainment
Expect to spend all of the money you bring.
While gambling, anticipate losing everything that was budgeted for the purpose. Barring an unexpected phenomenon, this is likely to be the outcome in the long run, given that the house has an edge in every game.
This is a helpful mindset when gambling as it enables the individuals to regard gambling as entertainment. So when they have their budget wiped out, there's less of a chance of them becoming disheartened and trying to win back their money by playing more.
If you come out ahead, it is a bonus. Even breaking even when gambling is still beating the odds.
Keeping your expectations in check keeps gambling an entertainment activity.
Don’t chase your losses.
This is one of the biggest risk factors for going beyond your gambling budget.
This may lead you to feel tempted to keep on playing to recoup the expense incurred, yet casinos, invariably on the winning side, are always further ahead than any superscribers. The chase of losses only leads you to spend even more in the long run.
Realize when it is not fun anymore.
With moderation, gambling can be an amusing way to pass time, provided one is in control of this activity.
The sense of losing control over a game can feel incredibly frustrating when players start to gamble in an attempt to recover lost money. It is quite commonplace for players to physically assault the slot machines.
Someone told me today that he liked it when he didn't have any money because he wouldn't have to worry about gambling.
To many, gambling has ceased to be just a form of entertainment and instead take control of their lives from that point. Though, it is wise to keep a tab on whether the other things in life that require attention have become secondary when still considering gambling an entertainment.
Understand How the Games Work
It’s always random.
There is a misconception that hot and cold slot machines exist. All games in casinos take place with random outcomes, thus anything you will do to gain an advantage over the casino will not work. You cannot track these results; therefore, there is simply no way to make these assumptions about whether someone else has just played that machine prior to you or how long it has been without a payout.
Fun fact: In slot machines, a chip inside, called Random Number Generator (RNG), continuously generates random outcomes, which is what determines the outcome on these machines, even when no player pulls the lever!
The house always wins.
While the outcome is random in each game, it is not equal to the amount you would be paid based on the winning outcome. The casino takes away five to ten percent to gain its edge, based upon the type of game in question.
Given this built-in casino advantage, the longer anyone plays, the more they're likely to run out of bankroll-"pretty equally" amongst all players-even in the short term, despite having the "upper hand."
Understand the game you are playing.
Knowing the game you are playing makes it likely for you to feel in control of it. While the outcome may be something beyond your control, the money you put in is left entirely to you.
So much because playing on a slot machine may be simple, it can also have deceptive methods: even if you're playing a penny machine, you're not betting a penny per spin; many of these machines let you play multiple lines, making your maximum bet sometimes over $5 each spin.
When you lose money without realizing that you have outlaid more than you intended to, you get very disappointed within a few moments. There are times when it also becomes very alluring to withdraw more money so as to keep on gambling.
Know the way the games work and the amounts you intend to wager on each bet. This way, you are guaranteed that your budget will be enough for allocating the entire session of gambling.
Conclusion
To prevent gambling addiction from starting, it is important to put in place a money and time limit and to play for enjoyment while knowing how the game works.
Although these lessons mainly pertain to gambling in a casino setting, most of the same rules also apply when playing online, in lotteries, or to sports betting, including playing online casinos in Canada.
Gambling is a form of entertainment that can be seen as an addiction when it has an ill effect on someone's life.
Just like drugs and alcohol, gambling is quite often utilized as a means to deal with stressors in life. It might therefore be used as a means of tackling boredom, loneliness, grief, or anxiety.
If you have any concerns or issues with your gambling and would like help, you can also contact your local problem gambling helpline for information about local resources.