Online gambling as a hobby can offer you a great distraction from everyday problems, and help you deal with stress effectively. Taking things too far, however, can have the opposite effect, and stress you out even more. The tricky part is how not to go too far when the whole point of gambling is for it to be exciting, and to be an adventure.
The key is to remember that there is no greater adventure than real life, and that all problems that could potentially arise from losing your money are related to real-life stuff. Therefore, the sense of risk that makes gambling exciting in the first place is rooted in the real-world consequences of your actions. So, you’d better aways remember what you’re gambling for – your hopes and dreams.
To keep your hope of winning alive all the time, you need to be able to gamble on a regular basis without running out of cash very quickly. To achieve that, you need a job for a stable income and a gambling strategy that will keep you from losing more than you can afford. Putting your work in first place and your gaming habits in second is a sign that your mind is in a good place.
Online casinos offer easy access to gambling, which is a great convenience, but you need to be disciplined and exercise self-restraint in order to avoid developing bad habits. A great strategy when gambling on an online casino is to decide in advance how much time and money you will spend playing before you call it a day.
Most people wouldn’t stop playing while they’re on a roll – they’d keep betting until they lose. That is why you need to set a time limit for gambling sessions, and if you are on a massive winning streak when you run out of time – that’s great, you’ve won a nice amount of money, better to cash out and enjoy a day in the green rather than obsess over winning until you lose everything.
Another common mistake players make is trying to recoup their losses by betting even more – that is how people lose a lot of money. The best strategy is to have a plan exactly how much money you will be betting during a given day and if you lose that sum, you should accept that it’s not your lucky day, and not gamble until the next day.
And if you run out of cash altogether, never think about borrowing money to gamble. Playing games isn’t meant for people with empty wallets, doing work is – if you need being reminded of that, you’re probably developing a gambling addiction. The cure is discipline: decide in advance when and how much you will bet, stick to that plan, and your mind will be in a healthy place.
Borrowing money to gamble is one of many symptoms that can indicate a gambling problem. Most of them are identical with the symptoms of the addiction to video games, which include losing interest in other things, losing track of time, being irritable when not gaming, not eating or sleeping for too long, neglecting duties, avoiding social interactions, headaches and lack of self-care.
Symptoms specific to gambling problems include taking a second job without being hard-pressed for cash, always looking to borrow some money, often selling things, often pretending to be broke and often pretending to be rich, and sometimes even stealing things without being poor at all. Such behavior tends to have a noticeable negative impact on family members, relatives and close friends.
If you recognize some of those symptoms in yourself, you really need to set limits on how much time and money you allow yourself to spend gambling per day. If you can’t restrain yourself within those healthy boundaries, maybe you could find someone else to help you with that. You don’t need to quit the activity you love because you’ve become addicted, you just need to follow rules.
Online casinos are easy to access, and they can tempt people to gamble more often than they should. Some people don’t realize that they’ve gambled away an entire fortune though their phone. That’s why you need to keep a record of your bets, winnings and losses – you need to have a realistic understanding of the extent to which you are involved in gambling: it’s the healthy way.
To help you stay sober while gambling, you need to play only on trustworthy online casinos, ones that have been properly licensed by the gambling authorities in your country. For example in Ontario, Canada it’s Ontario iGaming. A gambling site that operates with integrity will be designed to help you make informed decisions. Also, you need to make sure that you read everything carefully before depositing money or placing bets.
Each new Canadian online casino operates within a regulated environment, and it is under supervision to ensure your rights are protected. In that context, your money is safe but only if you are responsible with how you use it. The law can protect you from frauds, but it can’t protect you from yourself. To be truly safe, you need to stay self-disciplined, gamble with a plan and stick to that plan.
