Work out your gambling budget

How do you work out your gambling budget? If your answer is I dunno or similar, then you really need to read this article.

Whatever your income, it’s incredibly important to have a fixed gambling budget. It’s the responsible thing to do. It helps you keep an eye on your finances and your playing.

It’s simply something everyone should have. And with these FAQs, our aim is to show you that figuring out yours is actually pretty simple.

FAQs: How to work out your gambling budget

What’s the definition of a gambling budget?

Let’s start at the start, shall we? A gambling budget is the maximum amount you’re willing to spend in a particular timeframe on gambling. It should include all types of gambling (from sports bets to casino to poker) and apply to both online and offline gambling.

Should I include wins in my gambling budget?

Everyone knows that winning isn’t guaranteed in the world of gambling. So your gambling budget should include money that you’re willing to lose 100%.

But you might win. We’d recommend not increasing your gambling budget to include wins. Instead, withdraw your winnings and put them into savings or use them to treat yourself to something unrelated to gambling.

Are there any tools that can help me stick to my gambling budget?

Yes, there are. If you gamble online, most good sites offer deposit limit tools.

That means that you can set a limit on the amount of money you can deposit into your account during a week or a month.

It removes the possiblity to increase your budget on a whim, which is great.

Obviously, it only covers the one site. So if you gamble in multiple places online or offline, you’ll have to stick to your budgets there yourself.

How do I figure out my gambling budget?

It’s pretty simple really. You add up all your expenses (including both vital living expenses like bills, rent, groceries), the money you want to save and the money you want to spend on fun stuff. Then take that figure away from your total income.

Then you’re left with the money you could spend on gambling without it majorly affecting your life. You don’t need to have all of that as your gambling budget. Perhaps you want to up your savings a little. But this is a rough guideline as to what your budget could be.

What if I can’t stick to my gambling budget?

If you’ve set a gambling budget, but you can’t stick to it, it could be a sign you have a gambling problem. You should self-exclude from online gambling and get the help you need.

There are lots of organizations out there that can give you support. For those in the United States, you can contact the National Council on Problem Gambling online or call them on 1800 522 4700.

In the United Kingdom, you can contact Be Gamble Aware online or via their phone line on 0808 8020 133.

And if you’re not in the UK or the USA, there are plenty of other international organizations that are there to give you support.

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