Do you want to play casino games online? Nowadays, there are tons of opportunities to do this. You can simply hop onto a casino online pl website, make your deposit, and gamble away!
Even so, you need to be cautious about where you play and how much you gamble. Even when you play on popular sites like the Lemon casino, known to be safe and fair to players, you still need to keep track of what you spend.
Unless you are cautious with your finances, you can easily get carried away and lose more than you can afford to gamble. That’s exactly what this article will tell you – how to take care of your finances when you’re gambling at online casino sites.
Tip no. 1: Play Only at Secure Casinos
This should be your number one priority when you are gambling online. Unless you play at secure casino websites, you cannot expect your finances to be safe. It won’t matter how well you are handling your bankroll and your finances – shady websites are often attacked by criminals, and your banking details and money will be at risk.
For this reason, you need to first make sure that you are gambling on a safe casino website. Here are some tricks for determining if a site is good for you or not:
- Read reliable reviews on casino websites to learn more about their offerings
- Check the casino’s reputation with players
- Check if the site has a license (this information is usually at the bottom of the landing page)
- Go through the casino’s T&C before you start playing
- Check if the website has a seal of approval from third-party regulation bodies like eCogra (this is not a prerequisite, but it’s definitely a plus)
Tip no. 2: Make Smaller Wagers on Games You Aren’t Familiar With
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been gambling online – there are always some new games at online casinos. This is one of the biggest perks about playing online. On many sites, your choices for games will exceed thousands, so you can hardly know how to play all of the games offered.
Whenever you are starting a new game, make smaller wagers until you get familiar with the gameplay. This is especially important if you are on a lower budget. You wouldn’t want to run through your gambling budget before you even get a chance to familiarize yourself with the game.
Tip no. 3: Practice in Demo Version
Top-rated software developers always have a demo version of their games. This means that you can practice the games and see the real gameplay without having to invest money. The difference is that you cannot win money until you decide to gamble with real money. This is only used for entertainment purposes and to get some hands-on practice.
Demo versions of casino games can prove to be very useful. You can use them to learn how the games are played, form your own strategies, and have some fun even if you don’t have a lot to wager. Once you are ready, you can switch to the paid version of the game and start betting for real money.
Tip no. 4: Set Yourself a Time Limit
Gambling is an excellent form of entertainment, but it can also become an addiction. To avoid this from happening and minimize your spending, set yourself a time limit. Decide on how many hours per day or week you can spend on gambling – and respect your rule. This way, you won’t get carried away if you start winning big, or try to recoup your money if you are losing.
Tip no. 5: Set Yourself a Stop-Loss Limit
Let’s say that you are a big fan of gambling and spend a few hours on this every day. After all, online casinos give you the opportunity to play whenever you want without having to travel to a land-based casino. Still, if you want to prevent yourself from spending too much, you can set a stop-loss limit for yourself.
How does this work, you wonder?
This is very simple. Decide what portion of your finances you can use to gamble on a daily basis or whenever you play at a casino. If you can afford $20 or $50 per day, consider this your stop-loss limit. Even if you are on a winning streak or the game looks really fun, stop playing when you reach your limit. You will continue to do that later with tomorrow’s budget.
Tip no. 6: Create a Gambling Budget for Yourself
Speaking of budgets for gambling, you need to create one for yourself as soon as possible. This is strongly advised. If you want to keep track of your finances, you cannot just sit and start gambling whenever you feel like it. You can’t keep loading your e-wallet or spending money out of your credit card without considering other costs and obligations.
There’s one rule of thumb when it comes to smart gambling – never put capital at risk if you cannot afford it. The money you spend on gambling should be extra money and not funds you need for bills, everyday necessities, and your normal lifestyle.
The idea is to set aside a specific amount of cash that you can gamble in a day, a week, or a month. This is your bankroll, and it is important for two main reasons:
- It helps you stop when you spend the amount of cash you have set aside for gambling
- It shows you how to adjust your gambling level, what games to play, how much to bet, etc.
The budget you set should be based on your financial situation and how much you are prepared to lose. Yes, gambling can result in wins, even life-altering wins, but you should still be prepared in case you lose what you are wagering.
Instead of thinking how much you can win, think of how much you can afford to lose. To create a budget, invest between 2% and a maximum of 10% of the budget you have. You can adjust this range depending on your financial obligations and situation at the moment, but don’t go above it.
Spending more than you can afford is the number one cause for gambling addiction.
When we gamble more than we can afford to lose, that’s when problems occur. Even if you aren’t really addicted to gambling when this happens, you’ll still have many troubles trying to cover the expenses that you could have avoided in the first place.
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Tip no. 7: Detach from Your Emotions
Gambling is all about entertainment. The adrenaline that comes with the idea of winning money is often making us too emotional. Not only is showing emotions bad for games like poker, but it can also cloud your judgment and overpower your wit.
When you gamble online, you will win and you will lose. Emotions can cause you to spend more than you can afford in both scenarios. If you start winning, you might be encouraged to gamble more money than you should, thinking that your lucky streak will never end. If you start losing, you might feel frustrated and tempted to keep gambling until you finally win, and lose a lot of money in the way.
If you want to protect your money as well as yourself, it’s important to look at this as a form of entertainment. Don’t get too emotional when gambling. After all, this is supposed to be a game where you are having fun, not your source of income.
Tip no. 8: Pace Yourself
This is especially important if you are on a limited budget. If you have a smaller budget, betting higher sums on a slot machine or your entire budget on a single hand of poker is not a smart idea. Yes, bigger bets result in higher wins, but if you lose, you won’t have more money for gambling.
The faster your pace in gambling, the more mistakes you’ll make. Some games require tons of thought, so it’s important to take your time when making your decisions. Also, if you spend big amounts on games like roulette and slot machines, you won’t have much time to gamble.
By reducing your gambling pace, you can maximize the time you spend gambling. You’ll get more chances at a win. For example, if you use smaller bets on slots, you’ll get more spins. This will allow you to increase your winnings gradually and, when you arrive to a point where you have more to gamble, you can switch to higher bets.
Tip no. 9: If You Can Afford It, Bet More
Those on a lower budget should pace themselves and make smaller bets. They should pick casinos that allow for small deposits and play low-deposit games like slots and roulette to be able to entertain themselves longer.
But, what happens if you have more money to gamble?
If your gambling budget is bigger, small bets should not be your priority. Players that are really financially stable usually choose to bet more, even the highest requested amount. This makes you eligible for the big jackpots that everyone likes, and the potential winnings are much bigger when you are making larger deposits.
Tip no. 10: Take Advantage of Casino Promotions
One of the greatest things about gambling online is that you can claim bonuses that aren’t available at land-based casinos. Some websites these days offer dozens of special offers starting with the welcome promotion to the large VIP perks.
Whenever you play online, go through the site’s promotions page and the terms and conditions to learn what you can claim and use to gamble. Bonuses and promotions are a great way to maximize the number of bets, get some free spins and credits, and gamble more with minimal financial risk.
However, before you claim a bonus of any kind, make sure that it is a legit, reasonable option. What does this mean?
It’s hard to think that, when you are given something for free and as a gift, it might not be smart to take that gift. Still, this is very true for many promotions online. Casinos give promotions to attract and reward their players, as well as convince them to keep gambling. But, they can’t give them out for free – at least not in most cases.
Most bonuses today will come with their wagering requirements, playthrough requirements, and other demands that you must meet to be able to claim, use and withdraw the bonus funds. Not all promotions are a smart idea.
For example, a casino can match your deposit up to a few thousand, which sounds amazing, right? This will prompt you to deposit $1000 upon signing up. But, what if that bonus comes with playthrough requirements of 200x? This means that you have to spend your deposit and the bonus amount 200 times before you can withdraw. Not only will this take forever, but it makes it very unlikely that you’ll end up with winnings after all that playing.
That being said, you should use the promotions you are given, but only when you are sure that they are worthy of your investment. Very often, bad promotions can convince you to wager more than you can afford, and the conditions they come with will make it impossible for you to win.
Some casinos have amazing bonuses to offer. You should not miss out on grand welcome promotions, no deposit bonuses, and match promotions with reasonable terms and conditions.
If you want to claim promotions, enjoy more gambling, and minimize your financial risk, there are a few things to look for when considering casino sites. These are:
- Promotions that fit your gambling budget. Let’s say you’ve set a gambling budget for yourself of $200-$300 for this month. A promotion you came across requires a $500 deposit to be activated. Since this doesn’t fit into your budget, you should not be tempted to claim the offer, no matter how good it looks and sounds. Claim only bonuses that fit your gambling budget.
- Special offers with good playthrough conditions. Playthrough requirements of a few hundred are never good, not even when they casino asks you to deposit very little and promises a lot. Even $20 deposited on a bonus with unreasonable terms are a bad idea, because they are $20 less for you to gamble with. Look for special offers with reasonable playthrough conditions that go up to a maximum of 40x. Most good bonuses will range between 20x and 35x.
- Deals that allow you to play your favorite games. Promotions are often linked to specific games or game categories. For example, free spin bonuses can only be used on slot machines. Most casinos select a few slots and tell you to play them with your free spins. If you aren’t a fan of slots, what’s the purpose of making a deposit to claim such a bonus?
- Deals that allow you to use your preferred banking method. If you don’t feel comfortable with using your card or bank transfers, don’t opt for bonuses that don’t allow you to use methods like prepaid cards or e-wallets. While you can change these afterward for future deposits, it usually takes a bit longer and you will still have to enter your card details to make that first deposit. If you aren’t sure that the website you are playing on is absolutely secure, don’t stray from your favorite banking method just because of the attractive bonus.
Tip no. 11: Make Use of Responsible Gaming Programs
Have you noticed how most casinos have Responsible Gaming programs listed on their website? This is a prerequisite from licensing bodies. Casinos today have to provide their players with the options to treat themselves in case they are addicted to gambling or notice that they are losing their focus and their control.
Top-rated casino sites have amazing programs that promote responsible gambling. This is one of the reasons why players trust those sites. Such programs can help you avoid a gambling addiction or stop it before it hurts you.
If you notice that you are losing more than you can afford and don’t know how to stop gambling even though you spent your budget, go through the casino’s responsible gambling program list. Contact organizations that offer assistance, use programs to prevent yourself the access to gambling sites, and basically ask for help. Those programs are there for a reason – and they can really help you.
Tip no. 12: Choose the Right Games to Play
Your choice for games at online casinos will play a vital role in how long you play and how much you spend. It is recommended to pick games based on your budget. There are low-deposit and high-deposit games at casinos, as well as titles that require a medium budget.
For example, if you have a very small budget, you might want to look for sites that have penny slots. If you can afford a bit more, look for games with average betting choices, or a wide betting range from low to high deposits. Lastly, if you can afford to wager more, choose slots with high bets, table and card games with high wagers, and live casino games that require more money.
Based on that budget you set, consider your options for games at online casinos. There are high-wager games for the VIP players, but there are also more modest games for those on a limited budget.
Tip no. 13: Know When It Is Time to Stop
Now, this is a very useful tip. The reason why gambling addiction is present in this world is because people don’t know when to stop. When you’re winning, the adrenaline rush is too strong, and you cannot stop yourself. When you are losing, you are thinking: “I’ll play a bit longer until some luck hits me”. In both ways, you end up without money, sooner or later.
The important thing is to play for fun, not for money. Be logically, not emotionally involved. Setting your gambling time and budget is one great way to do this, but the most important thing is your own control.
Gambling can be extremely enjoyable and often very beneficial when you win, but only if you set boundaries for yourself. Don’t ever forget this – no matter how much you’re winning.
Tip no. 14: Withdraw Winnings Every Now and Then
Even though you were prepared to lose those money when you set your budget for gambling, there’s no reason why this should happen. If you are winning some money, you shouldn’t keep playing until you lose them all. Some players withdraw their deposits only and keep playing with the winnings, which means that their personal funds are no longer at risk. However, not withdrawing anything you win until you actually lose it is not a smart idea, either.
This is how you can practice control, too. It is advisable to make smaller payouts every now and then. Don’t withdraw your entire gambling budget or winnings, but withdraw some sums every now and then.
Final Thoughts
These tips are applicable in every case and for every player. Naturally, your gambling habits and preferences will be based on your budget. Even so, keeping track of your finances is always important, so keep these things in mind the next time you start playing casino games.