Responsible gambling


Gambling is a fun activity, there’s no doubt about it. However, anyone who’s a regular gambler should take into consideration some basic money management concepts. This applies to any form of gambling so if your favorite gambling venue is online poker, online casinos, or real life casinos, the same principles apply. The last thing anyone wants, including the casinos, is to have you run out of money. It’s true! A casino would prefer that you spend $50,000 a year on gambling for 20 years and without putting your financial security at risk, then to see you lose $300,000 in one year and go broke. Why? Because in one scenario, they get $300,000 from you. In the other scenario, they’ll get $1,000,000. And don’t kid yourself, that is their goal, and that’s just fine. That’s their business, that’s why they exist, and we all know it.Budgeting your gambling fund therefore become important if you plan to play casino games for a long time. The first rule is simple: Never gamble money you can’t afford to lose. Most people have financial obligations, like paying a mortgage or rent, paying hydro and other utilities, paying for a vehicle, playing for insurance, paying for food, etc. So take into account your net revenue for a month, and take out all of those mandatory payments. Whatever is left from that pot is what you can afford to survive without while maintaining your current lifestyle. Whatever is left from that pot can be allocated to your gambling fund. Before you throw it all on “black” at roulette however, think ahead a little. Outside of your normal expenses, are you expecting an irregular expense? For example, are you planning a trip with the family? You have to take away from that pot accordingly. At the end of the day, you end up with what I call your “hobby pot” which includes all the funds you can spend for leisure, which includes gambling.

At this stage, you can determine a monthly gambling budget. Now establish a gambling schedule. For example, let’s say you have $5000 a month available for gambling, decide how many days a month you can actually find the time to gamble. Can you gamble 5 days a month? 10 days a month? Basically, that means you can spend $1000 or $500 per gambling session. So now that you know how much you can spend in a month, and how much you can spend per gambling session, this will help you decide which casino games you’ll play, and at which stakes. This decision is partly mathematical in the sense that some games provide better odds than others, but also personal in the sense that some games are more enjoyable than others. If you want to gamble at a hobby, it’s important that you enjoy the games you’re playing. If you figure that black jack gives you the best winning odds but you hate the game, don’t play it! Pick the next one that gives you good odds, but that you also enjoy. Also remember that some casino games are not purely based on randomness and luck and actually involve some strategy. Whenever a game allows you to make decisions during play, like let it ride for example where you can apply poker strategy, you’re odds increase. If you make the right decisions that is!

What happens when you win money, well that’s personal but you essentially have two options: Add your winnings to next month’s gambling fund, meaning that you can either spend more time gambling the following month, or you can spend the same time but play higher stakes. The other option of course is to reap the rewards and spoil yourself or your loved ones, which is always fun!

If you are careful with how much you spend on gambling and follow the methods described above, and set your goals and limits according to your financial capacity, you will never ever get in financial hardship from gambling which means you’ll enjoy it more. You could get lucky and actually profit from gambling, just don’t make that an expectations because there are no guarantees. Never play to “recuperate” previous losses. As long as you’re having fun, that’s what really matters!