It’s Safer Gambling Week! Get Advice to Help You Gamble Safely

Organisations from across the UK’s Gambling Industry and beyond are coming together this week to help support Safer Gambling Week. The campaign, ran by the non-profit organisation Safer Gambling UK, aims to promote awareness of safe gambling techniques, safe gambling tools, and the various places where people can find help and support about their gambling habits.

We thought we’d do our bit to help out too. If you read our blog section regularly, you already know that we spend a lot of time promoting safe-gambling practices. Our philosophy is that gambling should always be fun and that you should stop gambling the second it makes you feel bad.

Safer Gambling Week is all about getting us talking about problem gambling, so read this article, share it, and spread the word. There’s plenty of help available and many places to turn to for advice. And remember, it can happen to anyone. There’s no shame in seeking help.

OK, so let’s have a look at some of the top tips and advice from Safer Gambling Week.

Set Limits

We’ve talked before about the importance of setting limits. By doing this, you set up a mental rule in your mind and that makes it easier not to break the rule and to stick to limits.

Of course, you don’t have to do this through will-power alone. All of the UK’s online casinos have provisions for you to set limits – you must take advantage of these features and set time and money budgets. If you’re playing on non-UK online casinos, you can check with your bank to see if they allow you to set limits on gambling transactions. Barclay’s Bank offers their customers this option, and so do some of our other banks.

Closely related to setting limits is spending what you can afford. It’s no good setting a limit on your spending if your limit includes money for your electricity bills. So, you should only ever spend money from your disposable income. This is the part of your paycheck that’s left over once you’ve paid all your bills and living expenses, including child maintenance, clothes, and food, as well as the usual utility bills and rent.

Don’t Fall Out With Families, Friends, and Colleagues

If your gambling habits have reached a point where you’re arguing with the people around you, it’s time for you to be honest and ask yourself if you have a gambling problem. If you’ve been borrowing money and not paying it back, dipping into family finances, spending time away from family because you’re in the bookies or gambling online, these are all signs that you need to seek help and advice about your gambling habit.

Gambling Won’t Solve Your Problems

Maybe you’re experiencing a lot of stress right now and looking for a way to escape? Perhaps you’re in debt and looking for a way to repay the money? Or maybe something else is happening? I don’t know, but gambling is never a way to solve life’s problems.

Don’t Be Ruled By Emotions

Feeling strong emotions can make us behave in undesirable ways. It happens to everyone to some extent, but some people are better than others at riding the waves of emotion. It might be difficult to stop the compulsion to gamble when you’re feeling angry because gambling acts as a release. But there are other ways to release it too, like punching a punching bag, going for a run or a bike ride, or meditating. It’s all about channelling the energy and letting it burn out.

Let’s Get Talking About Safer Gambling

https://youtu.be/fWK-bSsfv5o