There's a fine line between enjoying a bet and being addicted to gambling.
Enjoying a bet is sticking on acca on at the weekend with your spare change or buying a lottery ticket every other week, it's mostly harmless fun and you're using money you can afford to lose. Gambling addiciton is much more sinister.
The world of online gambling is a real scary place at times, it's so easy nowadays to place a bet using your smartphone; depositing your hard-earned cash at the bookies takes a matter of seconds and you have the potential to lose hundreds of pounds whilst sat at home in your boxers.
Advert
It's this inherent 'need' to have a flutter that's the problem. Gambling can easily take over your life and become all you ever think about; with some people it can become more of a problem than drug use, as well as leading to other mental problems like depression.
If you find yourself constantly looking for your next bet or inadvertently looking for ways to make more money to gamble with, I recommend you contact your preferred bookmaker and ask for your deposits/withdrawals since opening your account - you may be shocked.
In a world where it's so easy to place a bet, the growth of the 'Twitter tipster' (whilst not necessarily a bad thing in it's entirety) just feeds the need for people to be constantly betting their money away. People are so willing to follow what people they don't even know tell them to with no real thought into what they're backing.
Advert
That's because they don't want to miss out on the next winner.
I remember last year, a fairly big gambling account that charges £9.99/year for subscriptions landed a 12,000/1+ accumulator. Whilst that's good, the rest of their bets were fairly poor and they rarely made profit - instead living off of that winner for a few months afterwards; suckering people in with claims that they can win at those odds too before being responsible for huge losses.
Getting sucked in by an online tipster can be really dangerous, and many are hard to trust. Sometimes you're better off watching from afar before allowing yourself to be part with your hard-earned cash to bet on what someone else is telling you.
Advert
Also, do your own research. If you're skeptical about what a tipster is backing, have a delve into the statistics for yourself so that you can make your own informed decision - remember you should never feel like you have to bet so if it doesn't appeal to you, give it a miss.
It's also worth noting that it's really difficult to make a long-term income from betting and most people will never be able to achieve it - letting greed and poor judgement get the better of them. This is why it's better to only bet for fun and learn the importance of bankroll management.
At the end of the day, betting really should be fun. If you ever feel like you need to place a bet or get angry when you can't, then you need to stop. You shouldn't let betting take over your life because when it does, it can ruin everything you care about.
If you ever feel as though betting is starting to become a problem for you, as hard as it is, you need to be real with yourself and admit that you have a problem.
Advert
The first step in overcoming a gambling addiction is recognising that you have one. If you're chasing losses and losing even more; take a moment and think about what you're doing. There is always an alternative.
Once you can admit that you have a problem, the next step is being able to ask for help. You may feel as though you're too proud to ask for help but it is honestly the best thing you can do - whether it be from someone close to you or an organisation set up specifically to offer advice.
People like gamcare and gambleaware will always be there to help if you feel like that's what you need, whilst Gamblers Anonymous aims to help through discussion.
When the fun stops, stop.
