The Complete Responsible Gambling Guide

There are three main stages or types of addiction - binge punter, problem punter, and compulsive punter.

• Binge punter does not experience any issues most of the time. They can actually live for weeks and months without playing, or even play from time to time without showing any signs of addiction. However, in certain periods of their lives, binge punter stops controlling themselves and demonstrates compulsive gambling without borders. This can happen literally once or twice a year - or once a month. In any case, such predisposition will not obligatory result in problem gambling, but the probability always exists.
• Problem punter plays on a more or less regular basis, and while their habits do not ruin their life, but they are already damaging to some aspects of life. Problem punters find themselves staying late at an online casino, or spending on games more than they could afford. Another symptom is that gaming episodes become more frequent and more time-consuming with time.
• Compulsive punters are unable to control their desire to play. They make gambling a priority, they continue playing regardless of whether they win or lose, and literally can’t stop playing. Another typical symptom is ruined job or family, and financial problems when gambling becomes unaffordable.

The combination of behaviors can show what benchmark has been reached by this or that punter. In fact, uncontrolled punting on any level of severity cause certain negative effects and may have serious long term consequences on one’s life.

Addictive punting usually leads to a whole array of problems - from mental health and self-confidence, to ruined families and lost jobs. The most common issues include: 

1. finance - inability to control spending on deposits and bets leads to the person proceeding to play to the brink when they already can’t afford it. Besides spending their money, punters can start taking or stealing money from family and friends, accumulate debts from friends or banks, or spend all their wages on games instead of providing for themselves and their families. While a desire to “break even” after losing money at a casino seems natural, in reality, the most reliable way to break even is to stop playing and manage one’s financial needs. 
2. mental health - uncontrolled addiction is dangerous and harmful not only because the person ignores their real life and pays all attention to playing. Uncontrolled addiction aggravates the mental predisposition to chemical reactions that take place in the brain as response to gambling. To achieve the same effect of euphoria, the punter will need more and more excitement with time, to be able to trigger their brain and endocrine system. Eventually, this may cause chemical disorders in the brain, and lead to severe depression, anxiety, aggression, or attempts of suicide. 
3. relationships - problem punter often starts ignoring their family and loved ones, which causes conflicts and issues in relationships. In many cases, significant others may choose to leave the person alone, because they feel they are no longer a priority. On the other hand, when the family or significant others cannot leave for various reasons, such families often experience violence, depression, problem behavior, and substance abuse. 
4. job and social environment - when the problem punter starts ignoring other aspects of life and makes punting a priority, they may even drop their job and avoid healthy socialization. These events lead to even more severe financial issues, and lack of social support whatsoever. 
5. physical health - first and foremost, gambling addiction will certainly not contribute into punter’s fitness activities or self-care. Moreover, chemical disorders in the brain will eventually influence physical health, too. 

While playing games, especially online, seems as not something tangible, these negative effects are real and can be destructive. Therefore, it makes sense to learn Responsible gambling practices and play it safe. 

We recommend to honestly assess your predisposition to gambling addiction. If it is mostly biological - like, you become over excited about any game or dispute - or if you have had any cases of noticing substance abuse, or if you know that your close family has or had cases of substance abuse or other addictions, perhaps you should stay away from betting altogether. Biological predisposition is extremely hard to control, and it is safer to avoid the problem at the source than solve it later. 

In case you would still want to play casino games or makes bets from time to time, check out the following recommendations: 

• play at reliable, reputable, well-known and properly certified casinos, whether online or offline. While gambling is a business and its goal for the operator is to make money, the best operators always take care of their customers and take measures to prevent problem and addictive gambling. 
• make entertainment, not winning cash, your main goal. Use punting to unload your brain from the impressions of a difficult day at work, not as a method to get cash. 
• only make bets with the sums you are ready to lose. Not that casinos are only about losing; they are not, but let’s be honest - losing is inevitable. Even professional card players lose from time to time, regardless of their skills. So, make yourself a separate wallet or card with funds you can afford to lose betting, and when these funds are over, stop playing. 
• keep track of your time, and don’t waste too much time on playing. At land based venues, they often do everything to make the players lose the sense of time - there are no windows, and no clock on the wall, and the celebration seems to never end. When you play in the web, it is easier to track the time spent. For convenience, you can even set an alarm clock, or ask your family to come and remind that your favourite TV show begins. 
• avoid playing when you are drunk, high, or depressed. Firstly, both being depressed or being drunk/high means chanced brain chemistry, and triggering your brain even more with gambling can unlock the chemical chain to powerful addiction development. On the other hand, you may develop a simple Pavlovian conditioning that you need to gamble when drunk/high/depressed. 
• don’t chase wins if you have already won. One win is enough, and even if you believe it is your lucky day, in reality, you can lose all money won if you continue betting. So, drop playing if you lose again and again, and if you win - stop playing as well.

Overall, it is not an operator’s or casino’s fault that somebody cannot stop gambling, because casinos and betting entertainments have existed for ages, but not each and every person who has ever made a bet developed an addiction. Moreover, as any other business, online casinos exist to make money, so the operators try to entice the potential customer, and also their loyal customers, to gamble more. 

As a result, generally, it is the punter’s responsibility to control their behavior and punting habits. However, it is a general practice in the gambling niche that reliable, reputable, and respectable platforms for betting and gaming have to provide means for addictive gambling prevention. 

The measures and options can differ, but the most popular means include: 

1. Responsible Gambling Guidelines, resources, and Help centers contacts provided at the website 
2. the customer should be able to set financial limits on their depositing, bet size, or spending (losses). The casino may provide technology that enables the player to set these limits, in case the player is unable to control themselves. However, not every online casino has such feature. 
3. the feature that each and every online casino must have is the ability of the player to seek self-exclusion from gambling via being blocked at the site - for some time, or forever. The customer should be able to contact the Customer Support, or to use a simple-to-use page at the site, to request suspending or blocking their account, and choose timeframe for that. The casino, in its turn, must not send the self-excluded customer any bonuses, promotional emails, or exclusive deals. 

When you choose a web casino for punting, pay attention to those features and options. Contact the Customer Support for more information if you lack it. Even if you are not a compulsive gambler, checking this aspect is a good way to check the reliability of the site and operator altogether. 

First and foremost, go through a reality check and analyze whether your punting habits have already shifted your priorities, or have already influenced some aspects of your life negatively. If yes, your next three steps are among the most complicated ones: 

1. recognize that you do have a problem 
2. talk to your family or close friend, someone who you can trust. 
3. start taking action. 

Recognition of the problem is part of the solution, but merely admitting you have issues, and then doing nothing, is not solution. So, your next step is to take action: 

• analyze your thinking patterns. What beliefs support your gambling habits? Do you believe you can earn regular income via gambling? Do you believe you can hack the system? Do you believe you can afford it? 
• analyze your situation and reveal what is your most powerful trigger to gambling. Is it being sad, annoyed, or bored? Is it being drunk? Is it feeling lonely? Is it feeling hopeless and unsafe about your future? Your addiction is a problem in itself, but it often stems from other, disconnected, issues. 
• search for self-help approach. Ask your friend to be your emergency contact you would call if you feel like punting. Search for healthy and satisfying socialization. Go in for sports or hobbies. Distract yourself with activities not less pleasant. 
• seek group support. Besides talking about your problems and getting some psychotherapy, you will get support from peers and like-minded people. Not being alone, not feeling the only loser on earth, and being part of the supportive group is a powerful therapy. 
• look for individual therapy and counselling. Psychotherapy, especially one-on-one, is more effective than group therapy. Moreover, the therapist or counsellor will help you reveal the accompanying issues and problems that lead to gambling addiction. Besides biological predisposition, addictions, phobias, and mental health issues often go hand in hand. By addressing your compulsive punting, you will be able to attack the underlying problems. 
• seek medical treatment if necessary. There is no specific treatment to manage gambling addiction in particular, however, when unhealthy and addictive behaviors are caused by depression, anxiety, and other brain chemistry imbalances, medical treatment is extremely effective. Sometimes, your depressive condition can be literally caused by lack of vitamin D.

While gambling addiction has a powerful negative effect on the life of the punter, and their family’s life, it can be very difficult to recognize specifically compulsive gambling behavior, and not cheating, for example. If you believe your loved one has issues with gambling, consider these points for reality check: 

• they clearly lie about their punting habits and spendings 
• playing games became a priority, relationships with you or others are a priority no more 
• they start having financial issues - you can’t understand where the money goes, they borrow money or reveal unclear sources of income 
• they spend more and more time on playing, sometimes staying up all night 
• they start suggesting that maybe “they should play less” 
• issues with job or other activities start to arise 
• the person becomes irritated, anxious, or restless if their daily routines are interrupted, and they cannot spend as much time gambling as they like 

In case you suggest your loved one demonstrates some of these behaviors, take it serious and offer help. However, avoid one of the main mistakes that 99 percent of relatives do - avoid being judgemental and accusing. We understand your feelings about that, especially if your life is being ruined with someone else’s playing habits. However, the main task during your first steps is not to scare the person off. 

To avoid being judgemental, educate yourself on the problem, causes, and approaches. Moreover, you can take it a bit further and reflect upon potential circumstances that could lead to addiction. Maybe you remember when or how it all started, or recall a specific benchmark in life when gambling appeared. 

There is no guarantee that when you offer support to compulsive gambler, you will be able to persuade them to seek treatment, let alone get treatment and manage the problem. At least, don’t expect immediate reaction to your approaches. Unless the punter is your child, you have no power to convince an adult person to accomplish what they don’t want. 

One of the most popular strategies is family / friends intervention. The family and friends have to express their concern about one’s playing habits. However, this should not be done in a judgemental way. Moreover, before organizing an intervention, relatives should seek advice and counselling from an expert. This will enable them to build their strategy in a way that increases their chances to get into ear. 

Again, don’t expect immediate reaction. The first step is to make the person aware that their playing habits become unhealthy, and sometimes, this makes the person actually aware about that for the first time. As we have already mentioned, many binge or compulsive gamblers are very good at rationalizing their behavior. 

After the punter is aware of the situation and concern, offer your support, and let them assess the options. Ideally, the person should ask for further assistance and support on their own, but in most cases, you are the one who seeks therapy groups, therapists, etc., and then offers options to the punter. Please keep in mind that pushing the person to action is unlikely to have effect. The same is about financial help or help with their work/job - if you solve their problems without their effort, this will only support their belief that their playing habits don’t have consequences which are that negative for them.