Responsible Gambling

Many people around the world play online games and bet. It is important that people do that for pleasure and fun but not take it seriously and do not make enormous bets. For some of the players, this innocent hobby can turn into a dangerous addiction.

If you start to notice some suspicious behaviour from your side or your close people, do not hesitate to seek help in the early stage. That is why we would like you to be aware that plenty of resources exist to help in solving this problem. We are trying to make online gambling safe as possible.

There is nothing criminal or bad to gamble on special occasions or once per a long time. It is individually for each person because even those who play often can be not addicted to gambling and also those who don’t take part in it frequently can start to have serious disorders. Everything depends on the behaviour they show related to their games.

Several world organizations offered an approximate list of behaviour manners that can be a sign of addiction problem occurrence. The following list of criteria is created by the American Psychiatric Association.

  • The person craves gambling with a large amount of money for greater excitement, he/she doesn’t feel satisfied with a small sum of money;
  • Failure to quit gambling several times and returning to this activity;
  • Attempts to stop gambling make a person irritated or even depressed;
  • They use gambling as an antidepressant or for receiving positive emotions;
  • Craving for revenge even after losing a great amount of money and increasing rates each time;
  • Obsession with gambling;
  • Start to ignore work duties and problems at home;
  • Lying to family members about how much they play and which rates they do;
  • Gambling jeopardizes career or education possibilities;
  • They rely on others to help them overcome financial difficulties or to pay debts;
  • Starting to borrow a lot of money and having large debts.

Remember that simply exhibiting a few of described criteria is not enough to reveal a disorder but if you have any of them you should be worried. If you have four of these points it means a mild disorder, six is moderate disorder and eight or more of them can mean a serious addiction started. If still, you are not sure about your condition, there are many resources and organizations which can help you to make a preliminary diagnosis.

How to find help

If you begin to suspect that you or somebody in your family tend to have a gambling addiction, do not wait too long to search for professional help. Always remember that there ways of dealing with kind of disease, same as with others. Most resources that offer legalized gambling provide their clients with recommendations about the treatment of betting addition. There are plenty of professional therapists and online resources where you can easily find support. Most of the countries created free-of-charge hotlines, which you can use if you need to talk about your concerns immediately and get a recommendation for further therapy. Usually, they work 24 hours and it is possible to use them any time.

Those people who prefer to talk about their disorder with others who feel the same can attend an anonymous group meeting. There they can discuss the common problem with people who are at the same stage or in the middle of recovering or have already got rid of addiction. Some of the most well-known organizations are Gamblers Anonymous and Bettors Anonymous, which create such meetings around the world. There is also a Gam-Anon, which helps family members of an addicted person.

It is possible to get additional help from a professional therapist which can provide you with the ambulatory course of treatment and special antidepressant. In most countries, the government gives financial support to those people who can’t afford it.

If you can’t afford any of the rehab ways described before, there is an option to put yourself on the list of self-exclusion in the casino or even online gambling websites. It exists on the law level in many online resources which provide legalized gambling. After that, you won’t be able to play online or enter any casino.

We strongly recommend you do not hesitate to seek help and we do hope that these or other resources will help you on your way to recovery. Play responsible and take care of your mental health.