Things To Do To Stop Gambling
Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Gambling will help you more than any group or club in a unique way that is actually obvious! So obvious you cant see it. It is a different way and approach to gambling addiction and stopping. Its like being born again and being set free. Take measures to ensure your own finances are safe from your husband's gambling. For example, create a separate bank account, if you haven't already. If your husband is willing to accept help, work together to restrict the amount of access he has to the family's money.
Don’t let the title of this article mislead you. I’m not trying to get you to stop gambling in casinos. I enjoy casino gambling, and there’s nothing wrong with playing casino games as long as you can afford to do it.
But I also believe that you should know why you’re losing and what you can do about it. The odds are high that you’re losing more than you win, because this is how casinos are set up.
As you read the 7 reasons to stop gambling at casinos, see what you can learn to help you improve your odds of winning.
1 – The Numbers Are Against You
Every single game offered in the casino is built to make a profit for the casino. And for the most part the games work exactly how they’re supposed to work.
The question is if there’s anything you can do about the numbers?
As a matter of fact, yes there are some things that you can do about the numbers in the casino. Some of them are easier than others, but there are things to be done. You’re going to learn more about some of the things you can do to alter the numbers on this page.
The best plan to get started is to learn what the numbers are. Each casino game has a house edge, or range of house edges. Identify the games with the lowest house edge and you’re off to a good start.
2 – You Don’t Know How to Win
I know you just finished reading how every game offered in the casino is designed to make you a losing player, but there are some players that know how to win. These players know which games give them a realistic chance to win and know how to use certain strategies to give them the best chance to win.
Strategy is important for every casino games player, and you’re going to learn more about it in another section. In this section you’re going to get a quick overview of casino games that you should consider playing and ones that you should avoid.
Here’s a list of casino games to consider playing:
- Blackjack
- Video poker
- Baccarat
- Traditional poker games like Texas holdem and Omaha
- Craps
Here’s a list of casino games you should avoid:
Not all of the casino games on the first list can be beat, but they can all be played with a reduced house edge. The games on the second list have a higher house edge and can’t be beat no matter what you do.
3 – You’re Spending Too Much Money
This is always a sign that you need to stop gambling. It doesn’t mean that you can never gamble again, but when you realize that you’re spending too much money, you have to stop gambling immediately.
Take a little time off to learn if you have a problem with gambling or if you simply need to set a budget and stick with it.
Many casino gamblers don’t keep track of how much money they start gambling with or how much they lose while they’re gambling. Only when they finish and start counting their money do they realize that they lost too much money.
This has a simple fix. Just set a budget every time you gamble, and only use the money in your budget. Separate this money from your other money, and if you run out you stop playing. Never use your other money in the casino.
If you find that you have a problem stopping, it’s time to get help right away.
4 – You’re Not Having Fun
Gambling is a form of entertainment, and it’s supposed to be fun. Of course, no one has much fun when they’re losing, but overall if you’re not having fun when you’re gambling it might be time to take a break.
I recommend learning how to play with no house edge or as an advantage player. If you learn how to do these things and are successful, you can gamble as much as you want. It’s always more fun to win when you’re in the casino than lose.
Learn more about real money blackjack and poker, as they both offer the chance to gamble while winning on a consistent basis. It’s going to take quite a bit of work, but it’s going to be worth it when you start being a winning casino gambler.
5 – You’re a Slot Machine Addict
First of all, if you’re addicted to any type of gambling you need to get professional help. When I say a slot machine addict I mean that the slots are all you play.
If you like to play on a machine, try video poker to see if you like it as well. Some video poker machines have a house edge 10 times, or more, lower than slot machines. If you’re willing to try a table game, blackjack or baccarat are both good options.
The other option if you’re stuck on playing slot machines is to try the free online slots offered by casinos. You won’t be able to win any money, but you’re not going to lose any money either.
If all you’re going to play is slot machines, you need to seriously consider quitting gambling in casinos.
6 – You’re Not a Strategy Player
Some casino games have strategy components, and some don’t. If a casino game doesn’t allow the use of strategy to alter the edge, you should never play it.
Once you learn which casino games have strategies, the next step is to learn how to use the best strategy every time you play. This is fairly simple, as many books and web sites have strategy information for casino games.
I always recommend playing online video poker and blackjack. Both of these games have easy strategies and are available with a low house edge. Once you learn more about the strategy for these two games you can learn about the strategy for other casino games.
While poker isn’t available in every casino, it’s a good strategy game where it’s available. The strategy isn’t as easy as the ones for blackjack and video poker, but you can make money playing poker if you use good strategy.
7 – You’re Not Getting Enough Comps
Casino comps alone are never going to be enough to make a casino game profitable. But they can be a big part of offsetting your losses and the house edge.
Look at it this way: Every dollar you earn in comps is basically the same as one less dollar you lose gambling. Even if the comp is a cheap meal, it still saves you the money you would need to spend to get the meal.
If you follow the advice in the other sections on this page you’re playing a game with a low house edge and using the proper strategy. These 2 things keep your losses as low as you can get them. When you also receive comps for your play it lowers your losses more.
This is just about everything you can do when you gamble in a casino. Make sure you’re getting the maximum amount of comps every time you gamble in a casino. If you’re not getting enough comps, take your gambling business elsewhere.
Conclusion
Once you understand the numbers and challenges you face as a casino gambler, you have an opportunity to change your results. The numbers are against you in almost every casino game, but you can influence the numbers on many games.
If you can learn which games are the best to play and learn how to use the proper strategies you can eliminate most of your losses. It’s even possible to start wining more than you lose.
At the end of the day, most casino gamblers would be better off by quitting, but most won’t stop. This is ok, but at least learn how to lower your losses so you can afford to play more.
I was asked to write a post answering the following question:
How do you know when to quit gambling?
This could mean one of two things, really.
It could mean how do you know when to end a specific gambling session.
Or, it could mean that you think you might have a gambling problem and need to quit for good.
I’ll try to answer both questions in this post.
Money Management Techniques
One of the most popular ways to try to beat the house edge in casino games is by setting win goals and stop-loss limits. These kinds of strategies are called “money management techniques.”
John Patrick is a gambling writer who’s a big proponent of money management techniques. Frank Scoblete mentions them repeatedly, too.
Here’s how these money management techniques work:
First, you need to establish “bankrolls.” The simplest definition of a casino bankroll is the amount of money you’ve set aside to gamble with.
Here’s an example of how that might work:
You’re planning a trip to the casino that’s going to last for five days, and you’ve saved $1000 to take with you to gamble with.
A money management guy would tell you to divide that $1000 bankroll into five single-day bankrolls of $200 each.
And if you wanted to play twice a day, maybe once in the morning and once in the evening, you’d divided those bankrolls into two separate piles of money with $100 in each.
These are called “session bankrolls.”
They’re really just entirely arbitrary ways of budgeting your money, and they do nothing to improve your odds against the casino.
But there’s more to money management than just budgeting your gambling bankroll.
Win Goals and Stop Loss Limits Explained
A win goal is an amount of money that you’re hoping to win in a gambling session. When you’ve achieved your win goal, you end that session. It’s an arbitrary amount that you get to choose. Most money management guys like to set a win goal using a percentage of your session bankroll.
Here’s an example:
You have a $100 bankroll for a blackjack session, and you set a win goal of $40 – 40% of your bankroll.
You play for $5 per hand.
At any point, when that stack of chips in front of you hits $140, you quit and go find something else to do with your time.
Now that you understand bankrolls and win goals, you have 2/3 of the money management equation.
The last piece of the puzzle is the stop-loss limit.
This is the opposite of the win goal. It’s an amount that, once you’ve lost it, signals that it’s time to quit.
If you use $40 again with your $100 session bankroll, you will quit when your stack gets down to $60.
You’ll play until you’ve either won $40 total or lost $40 total, then you’ll quit.
How to Set Appropriately Sized Win Goals and Stop Loss Limits
You’ll need to do some self-analysis and use some judgment when setting up your win goals and loss limits. Mostly it depends on what sounds like fun to you. I’ll explain my approach to various games below, although they’re not, strictly speaking, what most money management “experts” suggest.
When I play roulette, I like to get big wins rather than small wins. (I used to do the opposite.)
My goal is to play for 38 spins – no more and no less.
And, on every spin, my plan is to bet on a single number. If I win one of those bets, I get 35 to 1 on my money.
Sometimes I’ll hit a single number multiple times during a 38 spin session.
I know precisely what bankroll I need, now – 38 spins at $5.50 per spin, or $209.
I take two approaches to this strategy.
Sometimes I’ll quit as soon as I hit a win. If they spin the wheel 10 times before I hit my win, then I’ve lost $55, but I’ve won $175 on my winning spin, for a profit of $120.
Other times my goal is to hit a single number win twice during the session. This happens less often, but when it does, I see a bigger profit. Let’s say I hit twice after 20 spins. I’ve lost $110, but I’ve won $350, so I have a $240 profit.
With either of these approaches, the most I can possibly lose is $209 – that’s the amount I’ve set aside to play roulette with.
Another Example of Money Management in Action
Even though I advise people all the time to avoid the slot machines, I do play slots sometimes myself. I have to. After all, I write about them, so I need personal experience to share.
The fun of slots is playing for a big jackpot. My win goal at a slot machine is simply to win the jackpot during the session. Once I’ve hit the jackpot, I quit – I don’t care how big or how small my profit is at that point.
Here’s my approach to playing such a game:
Things To Do To Stop Gambling Money
I set aside enough money to play 1000 spins on that game. Then I play until I hit the jackpot or lose all my money.
If I’m playing on a quarter machine where I’m expected to bet three coins per spin, I’m looking at a session bankroll of $750.
I play until I hit the jackpot or until the $750 is gone.
The Thing to Remember About Money Management Techniques
The most important thing to remember about money management techniques is that they don’t give you any kind of mathematical edge. They’re just ways of budgeting your money. You still shouldn’t gamble with money you can’t afford to lose.
The other important thing to remember about money management techniques is that all your decisions are entirely arbitrary. There’s no mathematical advantage to gambling until you’ve won or lost 40% of your bankroll compared to 20% of your bankroll.
You get to decide, and whichever choice you make should be informed by how much fun it sounds like it will be.
What About When You Should Quit as an Advantage Gambler
What if, though, you’re gambling with a mathematical edge?
How do you know when to quit then?
There’s no magical win or loss number to signal that it’s time to quit. In fact, if you’re gambling with an edge, the longer you play, the more money you make.
Your earnings as an advantage gambler come from the amount you’re wagering versus the edge you have. If you’re playing blackjack for $5 per hand and getting 150 hands per hour, that’s $750 per hour in action. If your edge is 1%, you’ll eventually average $7.50 per hour in winnings.
The longer you play, the more money you’ll earn.
So, when do you quit?
Obviously, you’ll quit playing the instant you think the casino might be watching you. Getting backed off is no fun, even though it is a badge of honor for many blackjack players.
You’ll also quit playing when you get tired. If you’re tired, you’ll start making mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the less likely it is that you’ll profit.
Things To Do To Stop Gambling Sites
Also, if the game conditions change so that they’re no longer favorable to you, it’s time to move on. I was counting cards in a casino once where they started shuffling the deck after every hand. There was no point in continuing to play at that point, so I called it a day.
When You Should Quit Gambling if You Think You Have a Gambling Problem
The short answer to this question is “immediately.”
If you think you have a gambling problem, you probably have a gambling addiction.
Some people think that because you’re not ingesting a substance, you can’t really become addicted to gambling.
Such people should read some of the literature on the subject. You get the same dopamine response from gambling that you get from drinking alcohol or taking drugs.
You can ruin your life by gambling compulsively just as quickly as you can by drinking too much or taking too many drugs.
You have multiple options when it comes to getting support in your efforts to quit. Gamblers Anonymous is easy to find, but it’s not your only option. Fire up your search engine and get help if you think you have a gambling problem.
Conclusion
How do you know when to quit gambling?
It’s mostly an arbitrary choice. You can’t beat the odds by quitting at specific points, but you can use money management techniques to better handle your gambling budget.
Just try to be sensible about it.
And if you think you have a compulsive gambling problem, quit immediately.