Playing on slots can be really fun, but once you go over your limit it can cause money problems. Luckily the casinos have handy tools to help you manage your spend, and we’ve got some tips to help too.
Some Ways to Play Safely
Here are a few tips to help you play responsibly.
Have Fun
Check in with yourself, is this still fun? If it’s not fun and you’re feeling stressed or upset you probably need to stop.
Set a Top Limit
A top limit is a lot like a speed limit – it’s a limit, not a target. Setting a top limit allows you to play up to a set amount, but if you get a nice win, you don’t have to play the rest.
Let’s say you set a Top Limit of £25, you play £10 and get a win of £25. At this point you’d have £40 in your casino balance. You still have £15 left before you reach your Top Limit, but you don’t have to play that. If you do you risk losing it. Lose that £15 and you’d be left with £25. I’d much rather withdraw £40 than £25. Right? Right!
Combine this tip with the next one…
Set an Entertainment Budget (and make that your top limit)
This is a great way to stay safe. On payday look at your income and outgoings and set a little of what’s left into savings and a little of whats left into an Entertainment Budget. Use your Entertainment Budget to play, and make this your limit for the month. You can combine this with one of the Safe Gambling Tools below to help enforce your top limit.
Be Honest With People (and yourself)
We all love to tell people when we won, we’ve all done it, “I put a fiver in and I’ve come out with twenty quid”. It’s a nice little boast to be able to have.
What people do less is “I put a fiver in and lost it all”. By telling people when you lose, as well as when you win, you’re opening the door for people to ask if you’re sure you should still be playing. Imagine if you tell them you lost £5 three times in the month, they’ll likely suggest in some way that it’s time to have a break.
If you find yourself hiding losses from people, ask yourself why you’re doing that. If you’re honest with yourself it’s probably time to give it a break.
Safe Gambling Tools
Every casino has a suite of Safe Gambling Tools for you to use as you see fit. It’s worth getting to know these tools so you know what you can do and how to use them. Let’s take a look at them now.
Deposit Limit
This tool allows you to… set a deposit limit, I mean the clue’s in the name, isn’t it? Seriously though, this tool allows you to set a Daily, Weekly, or Monthly Deposit limit.
We suggest combining this with your Top Limit. Once you know what your Entertainment Budget is, and when you’ve got your top limit from that. Then set your Deposit Limit to match your Top Limit.
You don’t need to deposit it all at once either. Spread your deposits out so you have time to think before putting any more money in.
Session Reminders
By default you’ll get a session reminder after an hour of play. It’s very easy to start ignoring these messages and to continue pressing that SPIN button. When this message pops up we suggest taking a few second, have a think, maybe even grab a brew. Give your eyes a rest and yourself a chance to think.
Session Reminders can be changed to remind you after less than an hour too. Make sure to take a look at this one because it’s a really good little tool, especially for making sure you’ve got a nice hot brew and time to think.
Account Cool Off (aka Self Exclusion)
Account Cool off (also known as Self Exclusion) is a tool that makes sure you take a break. You can pick anything from 24 hours all the way through to 6 weeks (or more with some casinos). This is a great tool to use if you find yourself gambling with money you can’t afford to lose, if gambling is taking over your life or if you just want to do something else for once.
With most banks you can also block gambling transactions. We suggest putting this block onto your bank account if you use the Self Exclusion Tool as a backup. Don’t use it instead of Self Exclusion, use it as well as Self Exclusion.
Gambling Help
Take action now if you need help with a gambling addiction, you feel you might be on your way to an addiction, or you just need to talk to someone, there’s help out there and people waiting to listen.
GamCare
GamCare is the leading UK provider of free information, advice and support for anyone harmed by gambling.
https://www.gamcare.org.uk/get-support/
Gamblers Anonymous
Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem and help others do the same.
This site offers various aids for the compulsive gambler including a forum, a chat room, literature and most importantly a meeting finder.
Meetings are the core of Gamblers Anonymous and we have meetings every day of the week throughout England, Wales and Ulster.
https://www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/
Gambling Therapy (Gordon Moody)
Gambling Therapy live support is a text-based service that allows you to speak directly with an experienced advisor. Whether you are concerned about your own gambling, or if you are worried about someone else – talking about it can be a relief.
https://www.gamblingtherapy.org/
GamCare (Bank Self Exclusion Info)
This list shows which financial services organisations in the UK currently offer gambling blocks on debit cards (as of September 2021).
https://www.gamcare.org.uk/self-help/money-management/#banks
