Eve Luneborg
Responsible gambling refers to making informed decisions that keep gambling within your personal limits. While money is a key factor, responsible gambling also involves how much time you spend playing, your mental state while gambling, and whether gambling is affecting your everyday life.
Most live casino operators are required to offer tools that help you control your gambling, but ultimately, a large part of the responsibility rests with you. Knowing when and how to take breaks, limit your activity, or seek help is essential. This article helps you understand what responsible gambling is, the signs of problematic behaviour, and explains the tools and resources available to help you stay in control.
Responsible gambling basically means gambling within limits you’re comfortable with. Therefore, it’s individual for each player.
When most people think of ‘responsible gambling’, they think of the amount of money one spends. But it’s so much more than that. The time one spends, the priorities one makes, and the psychological well-being one experiences during a gambling session are just as important.
To gamble responsibly, you should…
…only play for money you are willing to, and can afford to, lose — never for money you should save for something else.
…only play for the sake of entertainment — never because you feel you have to.
…only play when you have the time for it — do not prioritise it over other enjoyable activities.
…only play when you’re in a healthy headspace — never when you’re depressed, sad or intoxicated.
Gambling addiction and problematic gambling are a big problem amongst players, both those who play online and those who gamble at land-based establishments.
Compulsive gambling is a condition where the individual feels like they can’t stop gambling, even when it affects their life or well-being in a negative way. Winning or losing almost doesn’t matter, as it’s the act of gambling that the person is after. That’s also why a gambling addict will almost always gamble away any winnings they get, instead of cashing out.
Suffering from a gambling problem can have a devastating effect on one’s life. The most obvious one is financial problems, but the mental problems can be even worse. Gambling addiction is one of the forms of addiction with the highest suicide rates.
If you play online, most casinos will offer various tools that can help you stay focused on gambling responsibly. We’ll explain how all the common tools work, but be aware that not all casinos offer all of them. Ideally, check which tools and resources a casino offers before signing up. That way, you can be sure that you’ll be playing in a safe environment where your well-being is a priority.
The deposit limit is the most often used limit among online players. Activating this limit will hinder you from depositing more funds into your account after your limit has been reached. Just be aware that some casinos will not be able to stop deposits from all payment methods, such as crypto transfers.
A wagering limit will determine how much you’re allowed to wager, as in the bets you’re placing. This limit does not consider how much you win or lose, but is a tally of how much you’re actually gambling for. You’ll find this limit at many online casinos, but not at all.
The loss limit is a bit different from a deposit limit, as it accounts for all the money you have in your account. Meaning, it’s not just the money you deposit that day, week, or month, but also any balance remaining in your account from previous periods. This limit then restricts how much in total you can lose during the period you activated it for.
A session limit decides how much time you can spend gambling. It can usually be activated per day, week, or month, and once the limit is reached, you’ll automatically be prevented from placing any more bets until the limit resets. In some cases, a session limit will automatically log you out, and you can’t enter the casino again until the limit has lapsed.
You can use a cooling-off period if you want to pause your account for a short time. Typically, this can be used for up to one month. During your cooling-off period, you won’t be able to log in or play at the casino. Often, this type of account pause is also applied before raising any other existing account limits, such as a self-exclusion.
The self-exclusion option is used when you want to limit your access to the casino for a longer timeframe — typically from one month up to five years. During this period, you can’t access the casino or any of its services. During the period you self-exclude for, the casino will not be allowed to contact you or communicate with you.
It’s recommended that you regularly take a self-assessment test. This is not only a test made to find out if you’re suffering from gambling addiction, but also to make you aware of how your gambling habits change. Sometimes, it can be subtle and not something you easily notice.
Many online casinos offer free self-assessment tests on their websites, but it’s not the case for all of them. Therefore, we’re adding one for you here:
Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the following questions:
If you answered Yes to two or more questions, you may be at risk of problem gambling. Seek help and support from an organisation that specialises in gambling addiction and gambling problems.
There’s no shame in seeking help — we can all need it once in a while. If you are suffering from gambling addiction or are worried that your gambling habits are getting out of control, don’t hesitate to contact a help organisation. Here, we’ve listed five free organisations that offer help for problem gamblers in Ireland.
Problem Gambling Ireland
Website: www.problemgambling.ie
Services:
HSE Drug & Alcohol Helpline
Phone: 1800 459 459
Email: helpline@hse.ie
Services:
GamblingCare.ie
Website: www.gamblingcare.ie
Operated by: The Gambling Awareness Trust
Services:
Extern Problem Gambling
Website: www.extern.org
Services:
Gamblers Anonymous Ireland
Website: www.gamblersanonymous.ie
Services:
Responsible gambling is the key to an enjoyable and fun casino experience. You should only play for the entertainment value, and not for the possibility of winning money.
Gambling problems don’t always manifest straight away. It can build up slowly, which means you won’t necessarily be aware that your gambling habits are changing. Therefore, always make sure that you do a self-assessment test at regular intervals and that you utilise the tools offered at your casino.
Eve Luneborg – Live Casino Specialist at LiveCasino.ie
Eve Luneborg has been part of the online casino industry since 2014, when she moved to the sunny shores of Malta to pursue her passion for gaming.