4 Ways to Avoid a Mines Games Bonus Gambling Addiction Without Quitting Altogether
It’s not news to say that gambling can be as addictive as any substance or behavior out there. But if you’re a gambler, the idea of quitting altogether just for the sake of avoiding an addiction just sounds like no fun.
While there are undoubtedly some who are more predisposed to developing a problem than others, everyone is susceptible to falling into a bad place without the proper precautions in place.
In this article, I’ll explain how you can keep on gambling while making sure your hobby doesn’t interfere negatively with the rest of your life.
1 – Keep Your Wagers Low by Having a Bankroll
Of course it’s never good to be addicted or dependent on anything, but some compulsive behaviors are worse than others. In this case, routinely betting a significant amount of money when gambling is much worse than wagering a manageable amount that won’t change your life even if you lose it.
The recipe for keeping your betting amounts in check is simple, and it’s called bankroll management. It’s a key to your success. But even more than that, it’s vital to avoiding real financial difficulties. Here’s how it works.
Before you start betting, you should set aside an amount of money that you feel totally comfortable losing.
Consider it as a purchase more than an investment, meaning there’s no expectation of you getting your money back. Obviously, you don’t want this to be the case, but it’s the right mindset to have.
After you’ve determined the amount of money that you’re willing to put in your betting bank, determine a percentage range to help guide you in making decisions in regards to wager amounts that you can afford. For example, if you have $500 in your bankroll you might decide that you’ll wager between 3% and 10% on any single bet. This means you’ll never bet more than $50, but never less than $15.
The goal of a bankroll is to help you avoid the crushing losses that cause bettors to feel like they need to “chase” in order to get back to even. This rarely turns out well.
Even for purposes other than avoiding a problematic gambling addiction, having your bankroll set up and functioning properly is simply a fundamental part of being a good bettor. It’ll force you to recognize how much money is coming in and going out, and it will likely help you make better decisions along the way.
2 – Take Two Days Off Per Week
If you’re a sports bettor, you know that there’s a bet to be made just about every single day. It’s very easy to get caught up in the cycle of betting on a daily basis simply because it’s available to you. Especially today, it’s easier, more accessible, and more legal than ever to place a sports bet.
With that in mind, it’s important to remind yourself that sometimes, it’s necessary to take a step back for a day or two, if for no other reason than to avoid feeling like betting has to be an everyday thing. If you’re able to not bet on games two days per week—Tuesday and Sunday, for example—you’ll break the mechanism in your brain that creates addictions.
You might be thinking that these small breaks aren’t going to have any real impact psychologically, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Building up the discipline to tell yourself “not today” is something that shouldn’t be undervalued. It’s like working on the building blocks for making sure you’re able to stop in the future should it ever start to become a problem in your life.
The more you do something that your brain finds irresistibly exciting—such as gambling—the more you build up that desire and compulsion to do it more often. Gambling begets more gambling, just as regular drinking or nicotine use begets more of the same.
If you want to know your status in terms of whether or not you’re starting to develop a sort of “addiction” to gambling, take a couple nights off per week. It might seem like a small and insignificant thing, but it could have very beneficial implications long term.
3 – Never Chase Losses (or Wins)
It’s rare to find a gambling addict who can accept losing. In fact, one of the warning signs that you might be heading down the dark path to a gambling addiction is the inability to accept defeat. When I say “accept defeat,” I don’t mean you’re just bummed out about it. I mean that you can’t help but make another bet in hopes of winning it all back.
One of the most important lessons to learn and understand as a gambler is that you are going to have many, many losses throughout your “career,” and that’s okay.
Even the most successful gamblers in the world aren’t necessarily the ones who avoid losing the most, but rather they’re the ones who maximize their wins and minimize losses.
It’s not news to say that you should never try to chase losses. When you lose, the worst thing you can do is make a knee-jerk reaction bet immediately after your defeat because you want to win that money back. These bets typically aren’t good decisions and are made more on emotion than logic and reason.
While you’ve probably heard that it’s not a good idea to chase your losses, I’ll add to that concept by saying that you shouldn’t chase your wins to a point. Personally, I operate in a way where if I’ve won a bet (this applies to sports betting only), I’ll bet half of what I won on another game.
For example, if I’ve won $60 betting on an NBA game and I have the opportunity to bet on the later game, I’ll bet $30 on that. Obviously, this guarantees that I’ll end the day up and can still give myself a chance to add to my earlier win.
The real “best advice” here is to say that past results shouldn’t impact your future decisions. Make each bet on its own as an independent play and recognize that your past results aren’t changing.
4 – Develop Other Hobbies
This might sound like childish or patronizing advice, but the reason it sounds so cliché is because it’s true: The best way to avoid potentially-risky behavior becoming a full-blown addiction is to not let it become your only source of entertainment.
Gambling can be considered a hobby, but it shouldn’t be your only hobby. Even the most basic activities like cooking, working out, playing sports, hiking, etc., can suffice as something that can occupy your attention. That way, all your energy isn’t focused toward gambling.
Obviously, everyone has different interests, and the same hobbies aren’t going to appeal to everyone. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that everyone has something they can get interested in if they really try.
If you don’t have any additional interests to spend time on, you’re going to put too much of your free time into gambling. For those who are thinking that there’s no hobby out there for you, you have Google at your fingertips. There’s just no way there isn’t an activity out there that you’d enjoy.
Even if you love real money gambling, no gambler wants that to be the only part of their identity. Kill two birds with one stone by avoiding developing an addiction, while also learning something fun you can enjoy as an alternative hobby to betting.
Conclusion
When done responsibly, gambling can be a fairly innocent, fun, and rewarding hobby. For all the stories of people who have had their lives altered by a gambling addiction, there are many more who don’t suffer any seriously negative effects. Simply put, it all comes down to the individual and how they react to different circumstances.
At the end of the day, gambling requires some sense of personal discipline just like many other potentially-addictive activities. Follow the tips on this list, and you should set yourself up to enjoy gambling without all the consequences.