Identifying Healthy iGaming and Betting Habits

Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, January 21, 2022

So-called “habits” can be categorised as both good and bad, but there’s no doubt that the former can be central to the development of effective, daily routines and a happy, functional life.

According to psychology, the formation and course of all habits proceed through four chronological stages; namely cue, craving, response and reward. Comprehending this psychological process is pivotal, both in terms of formulating good habits and curbing bad ones or particular excesses.

In this article, we’ll look at three key positive habits from the perspective of responsible gambling, while asking how they can benefit you when wagering online.

#1. Focus on Proactive and Effective Bankroll Management

Not only is there a myriad of online casinos and remote sportsbooks online in the digital age, but the advent of responsive mobile websites and native apps on iOS and Android has made these more accessible than ever before.

This, along with an incredible proliferation of casino games and sports betting market, has created multiple opportunities for individuals to wager on a daily basis, so it’s important to make effective bankroll management the fulcrum of your activity and online routines.

This should also start with a basic premise; that you never wager more than you can comfortably afford to lose as a punter. This way, you can safeguard your own financial circumstances even if you place a series of losing bets, regardless of your preferred verticals and betting frequency.

When it comes to actively managing your bankroll, you should note that online operators and sportsbooks can help in this respect. These entities are now compelled to offer voluntary deposit limits to customers, and you can set daily, weekly or monthly thresholds depending on both the size of your bankroll and how frequently you wager.

These simple steps enable you to take charge of your bankroll and betting activity, ensuring that you never spend more than you can afford across casino and sportsbook verticals.

It’s also worth establishing a nominal betting unit, with this representing the minimum amount you’ll commit per stake. You can use this as a starting point, potentially scaling this depending on the odds associated with a particular outcome, its implied probability and the possible returns in play.

#2. Set Time Limits When Playing Online

On a similar note, it’s easy to lose track of your activity and spending levels when playing online, particularly given the immersive nature of some casino verticals such as slot, blackjack and virtual roulette.

As you find yourself immersed in specific games and the rhythmic nature of spinning reels (especially when playing video slots), you may be encouraged to spend more than you can realistically afford, particularly if you’ve previously failed to set deposit limits at your online casino.

Because of this and its capacity to encourage compulsive and negative habits, we’d recommend setting time limits for individual sessions when wagering online. Once again, your chosen operator should enable you to set limits to suit your preferences and precise activity levels, affording you far greater control over your wagering and potentially preventing you from developing compulsive behaviours over time.

This is another core tenant of responsible gambling, which makes it possible to indulge your preferred pastime and enjoy your favourite online casino verticals without putting you at risk of considerable loss or long-term gambling related harm.

By setting time limits to control and regulate your gaming sessions, you can also compensate for the immersive and distracting nature of slots and similar casino verticals and any lack of discipline that you may have as an individual.

#3. Understand the Terms and Conditions Associated with Bonus Offers

Whether you’re gambling as an existing player at a particular casino or registering with a new operator, you’re likely to encounter numerous bonus offers that will have a direct impact on your online gambling experience.

While all welcome offers will provide a clear incentive for you to participate (such as a free bet, deposit match offer or finite number of free spins), in reality there’s no such thing as free gameplay. This is because each promotional offer is underpinned by carefully crafted terms and conditions, and taking the time to read and understand these is an exceptionally good habit to get into when gambling online.

Perhaps the biggest example here is so-called “wagering requirements”, which are used by operators to help them offset their losses when running large scale promotions. These are usually expressed as a multiplier of the bonuses total value, while they’ll dictate precisely how much you’ll have to wager before withdrawing any winnings associated with a particular bonus.

For example, let’s say that you opt into a welcome offer that takes the form of a 100% deposit match and credit your account with the minimum amount of £10. If wagering requirements of 40x the total bonus are in play, this means that you’ll have to play through (or bet) £400 before you can access your winnings.

You’ll also have a finite window of time in which to meet these requirements, and considering these factors will help you to determine whether a particular bonus offer is suitable for you.

‘Game weighting’ is another important consideration, and this refers to the contribution that each particular vertical makes towards fulfilling such wagering requirements. For example, you’ll see that most online slots contribute 100% towards wagering requirements, which means that every penny you stake through this vertical will see you inch closer to withdrawing your winnings.

Conversely, some verticals (including certain iterations of blackjack and live casino titles) may contribute as little as 10% towards your wagering requirements, meaning that you’ll have to wager considerably more to access any of your hard-earned bonus winnings.

So, we’d recommend checking the game weighting rules and requirements associated with a particular bonus offer, as the value of this entity will diminish markedly in instances where you have to play through considerably more to complete a withdrawal.