The goal of online gaming and betting in general is to win. But if your goal is to win money, things get a bit more complicated. You need to control your winnings. “The worst thing that can happen to a man who gambles is to win,” said 19th-century author and preacher Charles H. Spurgeon, and he’s onto something. Everything is about control. Controlled gambling minimizes stress, keeps things fun, and above all, gives you the best chances to meet your goal of actually winning money.
So what is controlled gambling?
Perhaps it’s better to first tackle this question by illustrating what is not controlled gambling. Dan L. of New York related his lack of control to 365casinos.com, after blowing all but $1,000 of his recent $8,000 in winnings on a well-known Micro Gaming casino. Dan said he randomly deposited $200 on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and quickly hit a straight flush in Carribean Stud Poker, which instantly gave him more than $7,300. Then the excitement took hold of him.
“Once I hit that killer hand, I started playing bigger and got up to more than $8,000,” Dan said. But the thrill of it—unchecked by any original or revised winning goals—led to a steady downfall. “My luck changed and I got down to about $7,000. I though, ‘man,’ that must have been the downturn, and now it will start hitting again.”
Over the next eight hours Dan brought his earnings back down to only $1,000 before finally cashing it in. “I was kicking myself for days,” he said. “I’m still kicking.”
Dan’s story is hardly unique. Casinos, gaming sites, and bookeepers live off the given fact that gamers who win will usually end up blowing their winnings while trying to win more. Call it greed, call it addiction, call it a rush that sweeps people off their feet. Call it whatever you like, but be sure to anticipate it and control it.
Part of the science of controlling your winnings, of course, is to set aside an amount you are going to play with. But the second half of the equation—setting a goal of how much you want to win—is frequently neglected part of gaining control.
When Brian F. walked into the Casino in Connecticut, he decided he would play with $500. Then he sat down at the slots to begin the evening and won $1,000 within ten minutes.
“It was too early to win,” Brian said. “I told my friends, I can’t just walk away now. We came for a night out and the night just began.” Brian’s friends advised him to pocket $500 of his winnings along with his $500 original investment and to play with $500 of winnings. Good advice, but not easily followed by the gamer who hadn’t formed a plan for controlling winnings.
“I hadn’t thought about what amount I would be happy or psyched about having later on. I just sort of said, “it’s all free money anyway.” This common assumption is what casinos bank on regarding payouts. With no respect for an earning goal, the gambler finds the money easy to re-gamble with, and then the odds are really stacked against him or her to win again.
Brian quickly lost his $500 of “house money” on craps, and then dug into the $500 of winnings he pocketed. Two hours later, when it was time to go, he left “even,” which is another common misnomer among gamblers who play with winnings. They simply fail to view the money as theirs until they leave the casino. They never have that sense of loss until they walk out the door and complain on the ride home how they lost hundreds of dollars. Only then is the money theirs.
There are many online resources for further reading about suggested bankrolls and winning goals, but only you will know what will satisfy yourself. First, you should play with enough to satisfy yourself. A couple hundred maybe. Also make sure to take advantage of the generous casino bonuses that you can find on onlinecasinoguide.co.nz – a casino portal that lists only the best and most popular casinos.
You might try to play conservative and win anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent on your original investment. On the other side of the coin, you might play extremely aggressive and shoot for 75 percent winnings. Whatever your goal, make sure you know what your original investment is and at what monetary winning goal you will stop at. If you win big, walk away and redefine your winning goals.