Gambling is a rush, and people have enjoyed it for thousands of years. Experts have found dice as old as 3,000 years old. Our societies have changed, and so have our gambling methods, but gambling itself has been a constant.
It has never been easier to gamble whenever and wherever we want. That’s a good thing, but it also means that the onus is on us to make sure that we’re only gambling as much as we can afford to lose. Let’s take a moment to examine the state of modern gambling and learn a little bit about how we can stick to our limits.
The rise of online gambling
Gambling has always changed with the times. Today, the revolution is in online gambling. The app that you use is one of many great online gambling options. When the internet went mainstream in the 1990s, it didn’t take long for online gambling to be invented. By 1997, the industry was worth $200 million a year. That’s nothing compared to what it is worth today. After changes in laws, massive improvements in internet infrastructure and access, and the rise of smartphones, the online gambling industry now brings in more than $1 billion a year.
Why the big change? Well, you can find lots of great reasons to prefer online gambling to the brick-and-mortar alternative. With online gambling on websites and apps, you can gamble virtually anywhere and at practically any time. All you need to get started is a credit card and a smartphone, tablet, or computer. You don’t have to get dressed up (or dressed at all), and you don’t have to spend any money on gas or plane tickets.
Plus, more options are online. Something like Double Bubble Slots, for instance, is the sort of imaginative take on a real-life casino game that could only exist online.
Dangers and budgeting
Of course, being able to gamble all of the time can be a dangerous thing for some people. Gambling can be addictive, and we should all be careful to ensure that we maintain a healthy relationship with our gambling hobbies.
It’s always a good idea to set a budget for gambling, even when you’re gambling in person. You can decide to play until you lose up to a certain amount, or you can decide to bet a certain amount and walk away when you have done so — even if you win. Whatever your system, the idea is to avoid dipping into more and more money that you had not originally planned to spend right now.
So how should you set up a gambling budget? For starters, create an overall budget. Your gambling budget will be a part of your personal entertainment budget. We can’t tell you how much it should be, because that will depend on your income and your assets. But you should certainly make sure that you’ve covered your real needs, such as saving for retirement, paying rent or mortgage, and buying groceries, first. And don’t let gambling take over your entire entertainment budget, because you may want to go out to dinner or to a nightclub once in a while.
You can really isolate your gambling funds by starting a separate account for that money. This is a good way to make sure that you stick to your budget. You can move money into the account every month or every paycheck. After that, whatever is in there is what you can spend — and no more!
Setting up a gambling budget is a simple and responsible thing to do. With the proper safeguards, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy rolling the virtual dice with your favorite app. Have fun!
