Gambling addictions here in North America is a habit that affects around 10 million people across the states where gambling is legal. Many players won’t admit to their addiction but it’s something that should be addressed.
The questions are what is gambling addiction and what are online casinos doing to help? Could they be doing a better job? And what are other organizations doing? Here we will look at everything online casinos do to help with gambling addictions and some things players can do themselves.
What is a Gambling Addiction?
Gambling addiction is also known as pathological gambling or gambling disorder. It’s the lack of ability to stop yourself from gambling no matter the circumstances.
Players with a gambling addiction can’t control when or where they gamble even if they’re down to their last cent or are up by $100. Players even skip out on social activities to stay in and gamble online. There are plenty of options for players to take to stop their addictions on a personal level. But we will look more at what casinos have on their platforms to help our players.
Gambling addiction also has a more scientific background to it. Players who suffer from substance abuse, depression, stress, and anxiety have also shown that they suffer from gambling addictions. Many players feel like they can’t turn things around, but there are ways to get onto the right track and move forward. Addiction can be a very complex thing but here you’ll find out what casinos do to help.
What Casinos Do to Help?
The main goal of online casinos is to get players onto their platforms, playing games, and staying to play longer. They do this by providing customers with lots of promotions and bonuses.
Online casinos don’t tell players that they have gambling addictions. How can they? They can’t diagnose someone through a screen, but they can provide players with all the possible options to help themselves.
The only person that can stop the addiction is the player. Online casinos actively help players at multiple steps from the sign up to telling players they’ve been playing for 30 minutes or an hour.
Deposit limit
During the signup stages, online casinos will provide steps for players to take if they feel like they have a gambling addiction. One of the settings is a deposit limit, this can be anywhere between $10 to $1000 and more. It’s set to stop players from depositing more than their maximum amount.
Deposit limits help with money management and prevent players from gambling too much when they can’t control themselves. With this players can set the limit to refresh weekly or monthly depending on their needs. They can have a smaller limit over weeks that can be done or a bigger limit over months. It’s down to personal preference at the end of the day.
Time Limit
The other precaution online casinos have is setting a timer that tells players how long they’ve been playing. This is a reality check timer and can be set to go off every 30 minutes or 1 hour. Many players lose track of time so it’s a good way to inform them that it’s time to stop playing and take a break. The signs usually come up no matter what game is being played and even says how long players have played.
If players have opted to ignore both steps and want to set them later on, it can usually be found in the account settings. Online casinos will let players change the limits if they wish to whenever they choose fit. However, the limit does not change instantly. It takes a day or two to change, this too makes gamblers think about changing the limit. A lot of addicts will say “this will take too long” and leave the limit as it is. It’s a good way to stop players from changing limits when their emotions are high.
Loss Limit
The loss limit stops players from losing more money than they are willing to give up. It’s another great way to help with money management and addiction. Players can set any loss limit they deem fit for their accounts. If players set a limit of $100 they won’t be able to lose more than $100 in the time frame set, which can be a week or month.
The limit doesn’t include the money they’ve won. So, for instance, if players win $50 and lose that $50 it won’t contribute to the loss limit. However, if they lose the $50 and then start losing the original $100 then it will contribute to the limit. Once the limit is hit players won’t be able to place bets till the time period is refreshed.
Time Off and Self Exclusion
Players can take time off from gambling at online casinos in two forms. Those being normal time off-limits and self exclusions. Time off can be anywhere between a few days to 6 weeks. These limits are good or players who can take a short break from gambling if they feel like it started to consume their lives a bit.
Self exclusions are a bit more serious than time off-limits. The self exclusions are for players who are looking to take extended time away from gambling. These players can take off 6 months to a year or even 5 years from gambling. Self exclusions are typically carried out by players who have severe addictions and need to stop for a long time.
During the exclusion period, the players won’t be able to sign in to their accounts. Once the time is up they’ll usually have to contact the casino to reopen the account. This is the point where the customer service rep will ask questions like “do you still feel addicted to gambling?”
Self exclusions can also be made permanent. This stops players from playing forever, and they can’t open a new account with the online casino. Players with permanent self-exclusion cannot return to the website in the future.
Account Verification
It’s imperative to get the account verified when signing up for online casinos. This is usually done by sending in identification like a driver’s license or passport. Account verification allows the online casino to check if players are a high priority and on gambling watch. This allows casinos to take action to help these players with their addictions and close accounts.
Other Information
There is a lot of information for players on all online casino’s websites. They have responsible gambling tabs posts throughout the entire website. These tabs direct players to information about responsible gambling and the steps they can take to stop if they feel addicted. Most online casinos have the links at the top of the website and towards the bottom. It’s usually easy to find.
What else is on these pages you might ask? Well, these pages have external website links that are made specifically to help players with addiction. They also have hotline numbers for players to contact. These hotlines have professionals to help players get over addiction and assist in putting them on the right track again.
What Can Players Do to Stop?
Many players feel like online casinos don’t do enough to help stop gambling addiction. There are personal things to do and stop, which help with money management and get players out of debt and being unable to pay bills. Here are a few things to do and stop.
Things to Do
- Pay any important bills for instance rent or card bills before gambling. It reduces the chances of having severe money problems by missing rent or not being able to pay other bills.
- Find hobbies that consume time. This helps to keep the mind off gambling and other activities.
- Make friends with people who don’t gamble. It will help to stop the temptation of tagging along to land-based casinos or hearing about their big wins.
Things Not To Do
- Don’t view gambling as a form of income or a way to make money. Look at gambling as a way to have fun rather than a money-making scheme.
- Don’t take credit cards to land-based casinos. It can lead to spending more than you want to and debts can be made doing this.
- Don’t cut yourself away from the world. Speak to people about the addiction as it always helps in taking the first step to stop.
- Don’t turn to gamble when emotionally distressed. This is how a lot of players get caught in the addiction by playing when they are upset or not feeling good.
Final Thoughts
Online casinos actively work with gambling aware organizations to make sure their players are kept safe from gambling addictions. The entire platform has multiple measures like deposit limits, loss limits, and time limits, and more to help with staying aware.
Everything’s made safe for players to keep within their limits and ensure their social lives are intact and keep relationships strong in the process. With external hotlines available to the players it’s also a great way to voice addictions and talk about it to professionals. Online casinos make it easy for players to gamble and stay safe gambling.
