‘Gaming’ and ‘Gambling’ are terms that are often used interchangeably. This clarification is important to fully understand this article. Not to sound a bit too obvious, but responsible gaming is simply gaming responsibly. Gambling is very fun, it gives a thrilling experience, and while it might be hard to stop when you play at Aussie casino for real money even when you keep experiencing losses, you do have to quit at some point.
Everyone’s financial capability and mental strength vary. To this end, we cannot expect everyone to set the same limits for themselves. With responsible gaming, players are aware of their limits, risks, and mental and financial capabilities and set things in place to ensure they manage their behaviours well while playing and that they play within their set limits.
Categories of Responsible Gaming
- Self-Exclusion Program: Every legitimate casino, under the guidance of state and government regulations, creates policies to enable them to guide the activities of players. Players who are irresponsible, reckless and found to be in violation of these laws are penalised. Penalties differ. Some penalties include restricting the patron’s access to credit facilities, while some might include suspending the patron’s activities in the casino.
- Age Limitations: In many states, the minimum age requirement for gambling is 18 years. Individuals under the age of 18 are regarded as minors. They are considered very impressionable and not mentally stable enough to handle all that gambling entails. To curb underage gambling, online casinos usually put age restrictions on their websites that limit minors, while land-based casinos ask for IDs before the entrance.
- Employee Training: Authorities on responsible gambling sometimes specify that employees be trained properly to enable them to identify problem gamblers so that further action can be taken for their benefit.
- Alcohol Restrictions: Some state laws prohibit players who are clearly inebriated from partaking in more games at the casino.
How to Keep Responsible Gaming Entertaining
Responsible gaming can seem a bit too restrictive. Here are some ways to keep it entertaining:
- Go With a Fun Crowd: A fun crowd can take things up a notch when things seem to be slowing down or getting boring. With friends, it is easy to get into your happy place and just have as much fun as possible. Moreover, if you have exhausted all your funds for the day, you could always head to the bar for some drinks.
- Pick the Right Game: For every single player in a casino, there are the right games, and there are the wrong ones. The right games for you are the ones you easily understand, and picking games like these helps set your mind at ease. A relaxed mind makes for a fun gaming session.
- Take Some Time Off: Casinos are fantastic for taking the edge off. Sometimes though, they can get too heated. Taking some time off and getting back in a while can make things more entertaining for you.
- Reward Yourself: A good tip for making your gameplay as healthy as possible is to reward yourself after setting limits for yourself and staying within them. Of course, you could also add penalties if you go over your set limits.
How to Know if You Have a Gambling Problem?
- Over-the-Top Gambling: Here, we refer to players who like to gamble even when they cannot afford it. Players like these often go around asking for loans, all in a bid to squander it at the tables.
- Persistently Chasing Losses: More than half the time, persistently chasing losses is a recipe for even more failure. Problem gamblers never fail to chase losses.
- The Dire Need to Gamble: Even when players no longer derive pleasure or joy from gambling, some of them still have an unexplained urge or dire need to place even more bets. This is a major sign of a gambling problem.
How Can I Gamble Responsibly?
There are a number of ways to gamble responsibly:
- The first way is for players to gamble only for entertainment and not for money. Only professional gamblers gamble for money. If you aren’t one, gambling should be strictly for fun. When players gamble for fun, we find that it puts less pressure on them.
- Another tip is to gamble only with money that you can afford to lose. The idea of sourcing money to use at the tables does not make for responsible gaming, and if you find yourself doing it too often, it is an indicator of problem gambling. If you are not financially capable of your regular gaming sessions, it is better to not gamble at all and just sit it out.
- Avoiding alcoholic drinks and drugs while gambling is a very good way to gamble responsibly. Without the effects of alcohol and drugs on an individual’s system, players can function more effectively and make better decisions.
- Setting a budget for gaming sessions helps to curb overspending at the tables and ensures that players do not go over their limits. A good way to ensure that you adhere to your budget is to visit land-based casinos without extra cash or credit cards as well. For online casinos, options are available for players to set spending limits for each session or each day, as the case may be. As much as setting a budget is important, time limits are also very helpful too as they ensure that you do not get ahead of yourself and play more than you need to.
- Of course, we cannot discuss responsible gambling without bringing in the aspect of chasing losses. It is imperative that you do not chase losses if you want to practice responsible gambling, as chasing losses would only cause you to go over your set limits.
Final Thoughts
Players should always keep in mind that the main reason for setting up casinos or gambling dens is primarily for entertainment purposes. In the heat of games, players tend to forget this key fact. Responsible gaming is not always the easiest thing to do, especially when players begin to lose consecutively and try with all their might to recoup their losses by playing even more games.
However, if you are one of those who cannot seem to stop themselves from getting ahead of themselves when it comes to gambling, the best advice we can offer is that you take a break from the casinos and seek help in any way that you can. Remember, the first step towards solving a problem is to first recognise the existence of the problem. Individuals who are able to detect the beginnings of a gambling problem find it easier to get better than those who live in constant denial.