The most important thing to remember when you sign up to an online casino to play in the real money mode is to gamble responsibly. Gambling in a responsible manner is much easier said than done, so here are several useful tips that can help you stay in much better control of your spending at any fully licensed online casino.
How to gamble responsibly at online casinos
If you’re looking to gamble responsibly in the best way possible at a fully licensed ‘real money’ online casino, there are lots of things that can help you. The most effective ways to gamble responsibly at online casinos include the following:
- Going in with a budget and sticking to your budget
- Don’t chase your losses
- Never gamble out of necessity
- Set deposit limits (session time limits and spending limits can also usually be set by the player)
- Remember that the house always wins
- No bet is a guaranteed bet
- Don’t think of gambling as a way to make a side income
- Practise playing games in the free play mode, where possible, before trying them in the real money mode
- Reduce your stake to an amount you are more comfortable with
- When gambling is no longer fun for you, perhaps it’s time to stop
If you can remember some of these golden rules when you next play at your favourite online casino, you are well on your way to being a responsible gambler. There are other things you can try, but it would be best to start by using some of these responsible gambling tools before trying any others. Now, let’s take a closer look at what some of these responsible gambling techniques mean.
Budgeting
One of the techniques is to set a budget and then try not to overspend. If you set aside a small amount of money to gamble in the real money mode, say $/€/£50, or equivalent currency value, then try your hardest to stick to this budget. This means that once you have spent the $/€/£50, do not deposit any more. Wait for another day before you redeposit when you’re in a better frame of mind. Consider how much you earn and how much money you need for other things, such as groceries and paying the bills, so that you never spend more than you can afford. Always remember that the very best mobile casino UK out there today will have plenty of safeguarding measures in place for fully registered members to take advantage of.
Never chase losses
One of the worst things you could do as a gambler would be to chase your losses. Applying the same technique above, you could wait for another day if you have lost your initial deposit instead of depositing again. Don’t try and win back what you lost straight away because it will only result in losing even more money.
Don’t gamble out of necessity
Don’t feel as though you should gamble just for the sheer sake of it. If you do feel as though you are gambling and you don’t really need to, then perhaps it’s time to take a break for a while.
Set limits
At many of today’s best online casinos, you can set limits on deposits as well as session time limits, and/or spending limits by heading to the ‘safer gambling tools’ section when logged into your account. This is the best way to stay in control of how much you spend. For example, let’s just say that you set a $/€/£50 monthly deposit limit and deposit the full $/€/£50 on the 10th day of the month. You would then not be able to make another deposit until the 10th day of the following month. If you do reach your limit and try to deposit more money, a message will appear on the screen for you, informing you that you have reached your limits.
Practice games in the free play mode
Before you risk losing any of your hard-earned cash on a game that you may not like, say a certain online slot machine, or perhaps a table or card game, such as Baccarat or Craps, where possible, practise in the free play demo mode. If you think you like the game, you could close it and then launch it in the real money mode. There’s nothing worse than wasting money on games you absolutely detest, and the free play demo mode is a great way to counter this.
While it may sound old school, demo mode is still a popular option in the gaming world.
Reduce your stake
When you launch an online casino game, the default stake may be set to a higher amount than you are comfortable with. For example, you might launch a slot, and its default stake might be set to $/€/£2.00 per spin. If you only deposited $/€/£10, it means that you would only get five spins, and your session could be over in just seconds because you didn’t adjust your stake. You can adjust your stake in any game using the player controls. In this case, you can extend your playing time by reducing the stake to just $/€/£0.10 or $/€/£0.20 per spin.
Conclusion
If you can keep all of these useful responsible gambling tips in mind the next time you play, it can lead to a much more enjoyable and safer experience.
