Gambling ads love to tell people to "gamble responsibly" but that doesn't really mean anything when coming from a gambling advert, and like.... what does it even mean, anyway? Really, the only "responsible" gambling is no gambling, but teaching that as a method is kind of like claiming that you're teaching safe sex when what you're actually teaching is abstinence, which are two wildly different things.
So. If youre gonna gamble, heres some advice I was given years ago thats proven to be solid.
Only ever gamble as much as you're willing to lose.
That means: think about it beforehand, and decide how much you're willing to lose. The odds are almost always stacked against you with gambling, so it's best to assume that whatever you'll put on the table, you will lose. Pick a dollar figure you're happy with losing. Imagine putting it on the ground in a crowded street and walking away from it. Uncomfortable with doing that with your chosen amount? Then you've gone too high. Pick a lower number, until you can imagine dropping it on the street and abandoning it. If thats $2 then it's $2. If that's $50 then it's $50. Whatever your amount, pick it before hand, and then stick to it. Do not increase the number once you've chosen it.
Let's say you're happy to lose $20. Go ahead with that $20, have fun. If you immediately lose all of it, then stop. Right now. Do not gamble more. You decided on $20 beforehand, and now you've lost it; do NOT commit more money.
If you use the $20... and you win, then congrats!! You can now choose to stop here, take your winnings and go, or! If you want to keep going, heres what you do:
Say you gambled $20, and you won, and got $50 back. Take the original $20 out of your winnings, and put it back in your wallet. Now you have $30 to play with. If you win again, then yay! You've either got more winnings, or more money to play with. And if you lose the $30, well.... you haven't actually lost, have you? Because you put the original $20 back in your wallet already, and you only spent your winnings. You're no worse off than you started.
Gambling is highly, highly addictive, and various forms of it are scientifically designed to be even more so than regular gambling. Slot machines in particular have been tailored to be as addictive as possible, but even accurately betting on the outcome of sports games can produce such a high that you will keep wanting to chase that thrill.
So if you're going to gamble, you need to put processes in place to ensure that your life doesn't get fucked up by it.
Especially if you know you're the type of person who has an addictive personality. If you hyperfixate on things you like, or you can't stop eating sugary treats even though you know youre a diabetes risk, or you get into something and then can't stop until you've consumed it all, then you NEED TO BE WARY OF ADDICTION.
You can safely gamble, but only if you put rules in place beforehand, and then stick to those rules.
Pick an amount of money that you're happy to throw into the wind and never see again. And then do not spend more than that.
