Whether you’re playing the best online slots, poker titles, or live dealer games, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment. Unfortunately, many players get carried away and sometimes spend too much of their hard-earned money – more than they can afford – particularly during the holiday season, when people tend to be a little more carefree.

While it’s undoubtedly fun to cut loose once in a while, you should never make decisions when gambling that you’re going to regret later. That’s why we’ve put together this guide, so you can enjoy all the best that gambling games have to offer, without worrying about any potential regrets later.

These are our top six tips to ensure you gamble responsibly.

1. Pick the right online casino in the UK

If you want to make sure you gamble responsibly, you need to pick a fully licensed casino that follows the regulations stipulated by the Government. This will protect your hard-earned money when you make a deposit, and also provide you with all the resources you need to manage your gambling habits so you can enjoy your favourite pastime without drawbacks.

2. Set a number for your bankroll – and stick to it

Once you’ve found a reputable site that has all the necessary information on how to gamble responsibly and meets all your other gambling requirements, you need to decide how much you are going to deposit and ensure you don’t deviate from that budget. Sticking to a regular amount, regardless of how well or badly you’re doing, will ensure that you keep track of how much you’re spending, and never put yourself into a difficult financial situation.

3. Only wager money that you can afford to lose

While setting a number for your bankroll is important, it’s even more vital that your gambling budget only ever includes money you can afford to lose. No matter how lucky (or unlucky) you are when playing, you need to ring-fence the cash you need for things like rent, groceries, and other bills – and never, ever spend any of this money on your gambling hobby. No matter how you try to spin it, unless you’re playing mobile slots with no deposit for free, diverting funds from these essential parts of your budget for gambling is a terrible idea… and a slippery slope.

4. Avoid gambling if you’re not in a good mood

Many of us have been in a situation where we feel sad, irritated or angry, and have said or done things we later regretted. Being in a negative frame of mind can also affect your results when you’re gambling, which is why you should avoid making any wagers if you aren’t feeling good. In the Harvard Business Review article, “How your state of mind affects your performance”, the following finding was made:

“94% of respondents reported that Calm, Happy and Energized (CHE) are the three that drive the greatest levels of effectiveness and performance.”

So if you’re feeling anxious, stressed, angry, or depressed, or any other negative emotion, it’s best to avoid placing any bets if you want to make sure you are making the best wagers.

5. Ensure you are well rested to make better gambling decisions

When you play at a casino online, it’s important to take regular breaks if you’ve been playing for an extended period of time and to avoid playing if you are feeling tired.

If you have been playing continuously for a long time, you could succumb to a phenomenon known as “decision fatigue”. This occurs when an individual has been making decisions for an extended period, and the quality of decision-making declines as time goes on, even if the person isn’t physically tired. This problem was identified in the study, “Clinical decisions and time since rest break: An analysis of decision fatigue in nurses”, but applies to decision-making in general, including the choices made by gamblers.

If you’re feeling tired, it’s important to rest and refresh your mind. Fatigue, particularly if it has built up over multiple days, will also affect the quality of your decision-making. This may not be a major issue in games of pure chance (although it will still be a problem if it affects your bankroll management), but it could be disastrous in games like poker or blackjack where decision-making directly affects your ability to win. In the study, “Insufficient sleep: enhanced risk-seeking relates to low local sleep intensity”, the research team discovered that insufficient sleep over multiple days could result in riskier behaviour, which is something all gamblers want to avoid if they’re not in proper control of what they’re doing.

6. Watch out for signs of a gambling addiction

If you or your loved ones think you may have a problem, it’s important to seek help. The following symptoms – from the Mayo Clinic article, “Compulsive gambling” – may indicate that you have a gambling addiction:

• Being preoccupied with gambling, such as constantly planning how to get more gambling money.
• Needing to gamble with increasing amounts of money to get the same thrill.
• Trying to control, cut back or stop gambling, without success.
• Feeling restless or irritable when you try to cut down on gambling.
• Gambling to escape problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression.
• Trying to get back lost money by gambling more (often referred to as “chasing losses”).
• Lying to family members or others to hide the extent of your gambling.
• Jeopardising or losing important relationships, a job, or school or work opportunities because of gambling.
• Resorting to theft or fraud to obtain gambling money.
• Asking others to bail you out of financial trouble because you gambled money away.

Even if you don’t exhibit any of these signs, but are concerned about your gambling habit, be sure to ask for some assistance. We have listed some resources below to help you get started.

What we offer at The Phone Casino to ensure you gamble responsibly

To find a full breakdown of how we help you to gamble responsibly, be sure to check out our responsible gambling resources. Here is a quick summary:

• Identity checks – We run very strict identity checks to ensure only people of legal age are playing games at The Phone Casino.
• Entertainment – Our services at The Phone Casino are offered for entertainment purposes, but if you feel that your gambling is negatively affecting you, we have various resources to help (see “Further help”, below). Just remember: if playing online casino games stops being “fun”, you should take a break. We also understand underage individuals will attempt to access our services by using another user’s login and password. Check out our advice on how to avoid this situation on our page.
• Self-assessment – We have already described some of the signs of gambling addiction above, but we also have a self-assessment questionnaire to help you identify whether you have (or are developing) a negative relationship with gambling. We also have various exclusion tools available, if you feel as though you need to take an enforced break to help you control your gambling habit.
• Further help – You can find the contact information for the gambling addiction awareness and assistance organisations Gam-Anon, Gamcare, and BeGambleAware in our responsible gambling resources. We also share information on how to resolve any disputes you have with The Phone Casino.

Enjoy responsible gambling at The Phone Casino

If you’re looking for the best mobile casino in the UK, visit The Phone Casino. At our no deposit mobile casino, players can enjoy many online casino games including online slots, table games, instant-win scratch cards and much more, all with a great variety of resources to ensure you gamble responsibly. But that’s not all that’s on offer: when you register with us, you can also take advantage of our 100 free spins that are available daily, as well as other fantastic rewards!