What Is Responsible Gambling?

Nowadays, online gambling is popular enough that millions of thrill enthusiasts spend billions of euros playing their favorite games of chance. Overall, the online gambling market has tremendously increased in the past years, spoiling punters with thousands of gambling diversions of any kind and hundreds of websites they can use to try their luck. 

Gambling is a unique way of spending one's leisure time, as it can bring players, besides fun, some income, at least sometimes. Moreover, some games of chance, like jackpot slots, may yield a little fortune. Particularly, progressive jackpot slots are even known as millionaire-makers due to the huge wins counted in millions of euros. That's why sometimes, instead of just having fun enjoying the thrill, some bettors face an insurmountable desire to win a life-changing prize. Naturally, such an approach is quite dangerous since it easily leads to financial issues. 

Because of that, it's essential for any player to strictly adhere to responsible gambling principles, which aim to prevent your gambling hobby from interfering with casual activities like job, business, workout, and social relations. 

Basic Principles of Online Responsible Gambling

Any player should responsibly play with real money, even if it is a periodic experience, since otherwise, potentially high expenses may result in financial and psychological problems. To avoid issues of this kind, one has to maintain these three principles leading to pleasant gambling: 

• Use original gambles for fair play with unpredictable outcomes.
• Register at trustworthy sites to guarantee the safety of your money and sensitive info. 
• Play for fun, not for income.

Following the first two rules is quite a simple challenge, as it just requires choosing a trustworthy online casino boasting a robust and up-to-date license. By the way, if you don't want to waste your spare time picking a suitable establishment, you can use our professional aid. However, the third one commits players' efforts to showcase responsibility, utilizing a broad range of available self-restriction features delivered by any trustable venue. 

Responsible Gambling Definition & Policy

In a nutshell, responsible gaming is a set of various practices supplying a safe gambling environment and minimizing the risks of getting into financial trouble because of huge losses. In line with this responsible gambling definition, reputable online casinos follow a special policy that simplifies responsible play for bettors thanks to implementing age restrictions, a self-exclusion option, and the bulk of features available at the personal account, allowing one to adjust session time, bet size, deposit amount, or maximum affordable loss amount. 

Responsible Gaming Aspects

Responsible online gambling policy implies numerous aspects to be complied with, from mandatory age verification to providing a secure gambling environment. Whether you use these in the demo mode or play for real money, the games of chance are designed to bring you fun and thrill. Yet, if players prefer playing for cash, only fair play and safe service can satisfy them, giving them a chance to get a win and guarantee a hassle-free withdrawal of a prize. Let's highlight all the mechanisms foreseen at contemporary online casinos to contribute to players' responsible gambling. 

Age Restrictions

First and foremost, players who want to create a casino account must confirm their adulthood, as registering a personal cabinet paves the way to play with money. Worldwide jurisdictions may impose different requirements for the minimal required age, but it mostly fluctuates from 18 to 21. We don't recommend disregarding this restriction, as any licensed venue obliges registered players to make it through the verification process before they can start to play for money or make their first withdrawal. 

So, if your age is under the required threshold, you won't be able to play or cash out your winnings. We also don't recommend creating accounts at gambling sites that don't have any license and, as a result, may neglect to properly check your age or personality since these are mostly scam ones, meaning they are highly likely not to guarantee fair play. On top of that, you most likely will have trouble with cashing out. So, the first rule of responsible gambling is that playing with money is eligible only for adults. 

Player Protection

The next mandatory aspect all reputable online casinos comply with is providing a set of convenient self-restriction instruments. These allow players to establish their maximum deposit amount, preferable bet size, maximal gaming session timing, or loss amount that triggers the interrupting of the playing process to avoid losses a gambler can't afford. 

Moreover, any worthwhile casino delivers an option to self-exclude from playing at the site for a while. That is a helpful service, which comes in handy if a player recognizes some signs of emerging addiction in himself. The self-exclusion timeframe can last from several months to a couple of years. On top of that, a player can take advantage of assistance from some online resources anonymously providing help for bettors struggling with gambling addiction. 

Privacy & Protection of Online Payments

Also, responsible gambling implies the attentive choice of payment methods for depositing or withdrawing. As a rule of thumb, it makes sense to pick only those payment systems with the utmost security, thanks to the cutting-edge encryption technologies employed. Some of the most popular and simultaneously robust online payment services are PayPal, Apple Pay, as well as Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro banking cards.

Gambling Safety

When choosing an online casino, cherry-pick only those boasting at least one up-to-date license from a reputable gambling authority. That guarantees many benefits, including topmost personal data security, timely withdrawals, high-quality customer service, and the absence of extra fees. Any site lacking a license is highly likely to be a scam. Therefore, registering at such venues for real money playing would be irresponsible.

Tips for Responsible Players

There are a few tips you can use to minimize the risks of gambling addiction emerging: 

• Stick to a balanced lifestyle, which includes, besides gambling diversions, working out, social activity, and hanging out with friends. Of course, you must allocate enough time for your job to regularly top your personal or your family's budget. Otherwise, a player may run into financial and other problems over time. 
• Play gambles just for fun, not for income. 
• Don't neglect to use self-restriction instruments to limit a gaming session's timing and loss amount to avoid losses you can't afford.
• Take breaks more frequently. 
• Monitor your losses. 
• Don't combine alcohol drinking with gambling. 

We are sure that following all of these recommendations will help you to indulge in fun while playing, avoiding gambling addiction and all the troubles it brings out.

Tools for Responsible Gaming

As we already mentioned, online casinos can hugely contribute to the players' responsible way of gambling by delivering a set of sufficiently efficient instruments one can find within its cabinet after logging in. Observe some of them in more detail.

Risk Assessment

Some instruments, like Playscan or Mentor, thoroughly assess your gambling style to conclude whether you play safely or riskily. All in all, this is convenient software, allowing you to notice dangerous trends of risky gambling on time so that you can make necessary adjustments to your playing behavior to prevent potential financial issues. 

Deposit Limits

This option is quite popular among responsible gamblers, as it efficiently prevents unplanned expenses by forcefully limiting the amount that can be deposited. So, upon deposit limits being established, there's no danger of spending more than you can afford. 

Session & Time Limit

Thanks to this option, a player can manage the time to play games of chance. This instrument prevents you from wasting too much time on gambling, saving it for other useful activities, like friend communication, family commitments, workouts, or any other business. You'll be logged out automatically from your casino account when the specified period is reached. This instrument counts any time you spend on gambling, regardless of whether you're playing in the demo or real money mode. 

Wagering & Loss Limits

Also, you can specify the maximum wager size and a loss limit upon reaching which gaming session will be stopped. The first option elongates your playing time by optimizing stake level. The second immediately finishes a gaming session that has already exhausted your playing budget, threatening to spend all your current casino balance if you continue an unlucky gaming session. 

How to Use Responsible Gaming Tools

Responsible gambling tools are quite simple to utilize. First, you need to get authorized within a casino account. Then, head toward a personal profile to specify the required parameters, from the maximum bet size to the gaming session time limit. Some options, like self-exclusion, can require a corresponding request to the support team. 

Gambling Addiction Signs

No one can feel safe concerning his complete invulnerability to gambling addiction emerging. Even responsible employing of all self-restriction specialized tools alluded to above doesn't exclude the possibility of a player forming a gambling addiction. Hence, any gambler must be aware of several of the most important signs of addiction. To dig any of those, honestly answer each of the following questions: 

• Does online gambling crucially impact your job commitments or business deals? 
• Does gambling take up the whole of your leisure time? 
• Is it true that you can spend even more time playing gambles than activities with your family, friends, or other hobbies? 
• Do you feel a desire to steal money or lie to gamble more? 
• Are you frank with your relatives about how much you spend on gambling? 
• Have you ever gambled on credit funds? 
• Do you strive to win back by all means after a loss? 
• Does your mood depend on whether you're winning or losing? 
• Is gambling a way of distracting yourself from the current problems?

If you answered affirmatively to at least some of these questions, it may be witnessing that your addiction steadily grows. Responsible gambling policy recommends players revealing the first signs of an addiction suspend their membership at online casinos they are currently registered at and enlist the help of any of the organizations supplying aid for those players struggling with gambling addiction. 

Responsible Gaming Resources

Any casino operator adhering to the responsible gambling policy shows references on its site, leading to online resources helping struggle with gaming addiction. If you've noticed any of the counted above signs, turn toward one of these organizations for qualified and anonymous aid: