Responsible Gambling is a form of leisure and entertainment chosen by the gambler knowing his personal situation and circumstances and without taking risks that could turn gambling into a problem.
Responsible gambling is a healthy leisure and entertainment activity that is the result of an informed and educated decision by the player in search of entertainment and distraction in which the value of what is played never exceeds the financial capacity that the player can afford.
The responsible gambler:
- Chooses to gamble in a reasoned manner as a form of distraction, not in order to lose money and not out of a compelling need to make money. The Gambler is aware that he can be lucky and win, but he is also aware that he can be unlucky and lose.
- The Player has control over the amount of time he can play and the amount of money he can spend. In addition, he/she has control over the percentage or amount of money he/she uses on each play in relation to his/her available cash to play with.
- The responsible gambler makes the gambling experience a positive and enjoyable one, without this activity ever posing a risk of harm to himself, family or friends.
How to play responsibly?
- Play for fun, not to avoid trouble or for money.
- The player should at no time attempt to recoup losses.
- The player plays for distraction and is aware that he/she may take losses.
- The player should never ask for money to play or borrow money to play.
- Play only the money you have decided to spend for fun. Never use the money that you usually spend on your fixed expenses, such as food, transport, …
- Do not gamble when the person is in some kind of crisis, uneasiness, restlessness or loss of self-control.
- Gambling should never affect relationships with family and friends.
Prevention
Prevention systems depend on the type of gambling. There are different forms of prevention in lottery and games of chance than those established for poker, blackjack, bingo, roulette, slots, quizzes, sports betting, etc.
Some generalised advice on how to prevent pathological gambling is as follows:
- Set maximum stake amounts
- Limitation of time to play, depending on the type of game.
- Set the maximum expenditure to be made in advance.
- The operator must never grant cash advances to the player.
- Prior knowledge of the probabilities of success and loss.
- The player must never ask for money or request a loan to play.
Pathological Gambling or Pathological Gambling
The first form of prevention is knowledge of the problem. The diagnosis of pathological gambling or pathological gambling is essential to prevent further problems.
Pathological gambling is not a vice, nor is it a problem of a weak person or a person with a lot of free time. Pathological gambling is considered a psychological problem that affects a person’s personal, family, work, social or economic life.
The problem gambler’s self-control is affected, with a loss of the ability to say ‘NO’ to gambling or to postpone the desire to gamble. It is quite possible that the gambler is unaware of his or her problem or simply denies its existence.
Often it is a family member of the problem gambler who detects one of these symptoms: mood swings, irritability, low tolerance, worry, anxiety, insomnia, etc. Often it is a close family member who detects the problem even before the gambler himself or in the face of the gambler’s denialist behaviour about the problem.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 1995), disordered or pathological gambling behaviour is characterised by at least five or more of the following criteria:
- Preoccupation with gambling (e.g. preoccupation with reliving past gambling experiences, compensating for advantages between competitors or planning the next gamble, or thinking of ways to get money to gamble with).
- Need to gamble with increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired level of excitement.
- Repeated failure of efforts to control, interrupt or stop gambling.
- Restlessness or irritability when trying to interrupt or stop gambling.
- Gambling is used as a strategy to escape from problems or to relieve dysphoria (e.g. feelings of hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, depression).
- After losing money gambling, returning at another time to try to win it back (trying to “chase” one’s own losses).
- Misleading family members, therapists or others to hide the extent of involvement with gambling.
- Illegal acts such as forgery, fraud, theft or breach of trust are committed to finance gambling.
- Risked or lost significant interpersonal relationships, jobs, partners, and educational or career opportunities because of gambling.
- Relying on others to provide money to alleviate the desperate financial situation caused by gambling.
Solutions
If there are reasonable indications of pathological gambling, the first thing to do is to seek professional advice:
- No matter how much willpower a problem gambler has or claims to have, it is difficult for a problem gambler to stop gambling without help.
- In very few cases does compulsive gambling have a single cause or circumstance that generates it, which is why it requires the intervention of specialists.
- Often the problem gambler has other pathologies such as immature personality, fears, feelings of inferiority and lack of responsibility.
- The family must understand that this is an illness and take responsibility for accompanying and helping the patient in the treatment process. The family should never avoid the problem or leave the problem gambler alone.
Detection
The first rule for detecting problems in the game is knowledge of the problem. In order to evaluate the player’s behaviour, one of these questions can be answered and if the player answers YES to any of them, other self-evaluation or control measures should be taken.
- Do you think you have or have you ever had problems with gambling?
- Have you ever felt guilty about gambling or about what happens to you when you gamble?
- Have you ever tried to stop gambling and not been able to?
- Have you ever taken money from home/work to gamble or to pay debts?
- Do you ask for money in order to gamble? Do you stop paying obligations and devote the money to gambling?
- Do your family or friends tell you that you gamble too much and encourage you to stop?
If you answer ‘YES’ to any of these questions, the gambling authorities advise you to complete one of the following questionnaires:
- The SOGS questionnaire created in 1987 by Lesieur and Blume in New York.
- The NODS questionnaire (National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems).
Healthy play
The term safe gambling is often confused with responsible gambling. Safe gambling is more limited to internet gambling and is based on the security of the transactions that the player carries out in his or her gambling activity.
Safe gambling is gambling that is reliable, transparent, fair and fair and is distinct from responsible gambling.
Not all safe gambling is responsible gambling, but responsible gambling needs to take place in a safe gambling environment. Safe gambling is more about securing transactions to avoid surprises.
The player should take a number of precautions to make his or her gambling safe, such as playing at licensed and authorised operators.
