Tools to help you gamble safer
To mark Safer Gambling Week we have some advice on free tools you can use to keep your poker activity fun and social, rather than a problem.
November 13 to 19 is Safer Gambling Week, an industry initiative to promote safer gambling online.
For most poker is a fun recreational pursuit, for a fortunate few with a skill edge it is a way to earn an income. However, for some people, poker is gambling in the same way that roulette or slots are.
Here are some signs that poker may have developed into a gambling problem, if you are:
- Spending more money on gambling than you can afford
- Finding it hard to manage or stop your gambling
- Having arguments with family and/or friends about your gambling
- Losing interest in other activities that you usually enjoy
- Always thinking or talking about gambling
- Lying about your gambling or hiding it from your friends and family
- Chasing your losses or gambling to get out of financial trouble
- Gambling until all your money is gone
- Borrowing money, selling possessions, or not paying bills to fund your gambling
- Needing to gamble with larger amounts of money or for a longer time to get the same 'buzz' or excitement
- Neglecting work, study, family, friends, personal needs or household responsibilities because of your gambling
- Feeling anxious, worried, guilty, depressed or irritable
Tools to stay in control
Most online poker rooms have self-exclusion tools that can prevent you from gambling too much. This includes reality check timers that show you how long you have been playing, which also give you the option to block yourself from playing.
You can also set limits on your poker. You can set deposit limits to prevent you from spending too much money, you can also restrict your stakes at certain sites. PokerStars perhaps has the most robust offering here, as you can set different limits on different formats, so for example, you could not go above $10 MTTs or $5 Spin & Go's.
If things get really bad you can self-exclude from poker rooms entirely, for a minimum of six months. Not only will you not be able to log in to the site, you will also be excluded from any marketing material.
There are also free tools that you can install on your computer to ban all gambling-related websites. Check out GamBlock, Gamban and BetBlocker for more details.
To avoid temptation, the Gambling Commission has a number of tips to remove gambling advertising from your social media. The Gambling Commission also has a detailed list of banks and the services they provide to block gambling payments to operators (United Kingdom only, check your own local government's website for similar banking features).
The most important thing to remember if you think you might have a gambling problem is, when the fun stops, stop.
