Betting on sports for real money is a risky venture, and it has its dangers. Beyond losing $10 on what seems like the safest bet, or missing a single leg on a parlay that would have hit a massive payout, the underlying risks in betting lie in the emotional triggers, misconceptions and fallacies, and poor gambling habits that players can develop.
The biggest myth about responsible gambling is that this is going to cut down your gaming, or it has to impede an activity that may bring joy to you. The purpose of responsible gambling is not to kill your buzz or wean you off gambling at all, it is to help you place sports bets in a controlled and safe environment. You don’t want to take your sports betting to an excess and end up losing heavily, or worse, developing an obsession with hitting bigger wins and climbing to new heights.
No one starts addicted to gambling, it is something that is developed over the course of time, with poor gambling habits and no prior education on the inherent risks. On this page, we will run through the main ways you can stay safe, avoid making poor decisions or developing bad habits, and continue enjoying placing your sports bets for the long run.
How the RG Tools Work
Ideally, the RG tools should be used to give yourself safe and practical limits. Think about the frequency of how often you bet, what wagers do you typically make, and how many bets you place when you do open your betting account. With responsible gambling tools, you are not restricting yourself, but rather learning how to manage your money better.
You can use the RG tools to set practical limits on your sports betting, on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis. Think of it as a framework that you have to plan your bets in. You only have limited resources, which means you won’t throw out random bets or stake wagers on bets that don’t really meet your preferences.
Use RG Tools for Your Betting Strategy
Each responsible gambling tool has its own purpose, and methodology that can be associated with smarter betting strategies. Here is the full list of RG tools you will typically come across, and a brief summary of what they do.
Deposit Limits
You can set deposit limits on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. When a deposit limit is set for a week, then you can only deposit that much money into your betting account. Say you set a $100 weekly limit, if you put in $100 midweek, you cannot put in any more money until the following week.
It is basic budgeting, where you give yourself a set amount of resources, and then have to plan how you will use them. You don’t have an endless supply of money to use, and cannot top up if you go bust. So the goal is to maintain that bankroll, not spend it all before your next deposit opportunity, and it can help you stretch out your funds better.
Session or Daily Limits
Session limits are more often used by casino gamers, who play round after round of blackjack, or spin the reels continuously at slots. With sports betting, you are not continuously spending, so session limits are not really as effective. These are limits imposed on how much you can spend in a single session, or (for sports betting), a single day.
However, for more frequent bettors they can help break down the bankroll into daily spending limits. You can’t eat your entire bankroll in an afternoon of upsets and shocking results. With session limits, you are making it impossible to go bust, and leaving a little extra for the following day, when you are fresh and focused.
Win/Loss Caps
Win loss caps can be set to get notified if you cross a preset milestone in your wins or losses. It is more efficient for casino gamers, who spend money continuously.
In sports betting, they are more handy when you are placing in-play bets. Because there are opportunities to bet every few minutes if you are placing live bets, and the speed of the odds changes, bets settling and new bets popping up, can invoke impulsive responses in some bettors.
Setting the limit on wins or losses helps you keep track, and ensure you don’t go overboard on a winning streak, or chase losses if you are on a losing streak.
Reality Checks
These can be made in denominations of 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hour, and so on, and they keep you alert to how long you have been logged into your betting account. There is so much time where browsing betting markets, comparing bets and assembling potential bet slips is useful. But spend too long, and it can start to become difficult to find satisfactory bets.
t is not because you are indecisive, but you have too many choices, too many bets to analyze, and exponentially more parlay, SGP and cross betting possibilities. This is sensory overload, where you may feel flooded with opportunities, but don’t feel especially drawn to any specific one. The best option then is to keep your money, don’t place a single bet, and log out of your account.
Taking breaks helps refresh the mind, refocus, and make smarter decisions. With reality checks, you will get reminders that can help break the cycle, and tell you it is time to take a short break.
Take A Break
This is one of the more serious responsible gambling tools, and it is used when you feel you have gotten too emotionally charged. Taking a break suspends your betting account temporarily, for a period of time of your choice.
It is useful for when you want to take a longer break, and don’t even want to log into your account lest it tempts you into placing a bet. Creating healthy betting patterns is essential to keeping it a safe and enjoyable hobby. If taking a break to cut yourself off from the temptation and vice of sports betting is what it takes, then you can use Take A Break measures as much as you need.
Self Exclusion
Self exclusion is a tool that suspends your account and cuts you off from sports betting for a longer period of time. It is a tool that problem gamblers can use for recovery, as they have formed risky behaviors and need a complete reset.
If a user self excludes, they can choose long timeframes like a month, half a year, a year, or even indefinitely. This is not part of a betting strategy or learning to control your budget. It is reserved for anyone who suspects they may have a serious gambling problem, and need to seek help. Self exclusion ensures they cannot log back into their account, and cannot place another bet until the timeframe expires.
How You Can Gamble Responsibly
Gambling responsibly is about taking the reins, managing your finances, making smarter choices, and not getting emotionally invested. There are actually many crossovers with responsible gambling and expert betting strategies, as you plan for the longterm and avoid making impulsive decisions or placing bets that could potentially incur heavy losses. You can’t avoid losses, they are part of the playbook. But what you can do is manage your losses and practise patience. Understanding the risks, probability of winning, and applying your sports betting expertise all help to create a robust betting strategy. They also tick all the boxes for RG, making you a fully responsible and practical bettor.
Licensed sportsbooks in the US are mandated by law to provide responsible gambling tools to users, however, you are not mandated by law to use them. It would sound pretty intrusive if you had to, but we only need to look to Europe and the UK to find precedents of gambling regulators who actually make it compulsory to set deposit limits. There are even some that have set limits for everyone. US sportsbook operators, for the time being, are only mandated by law to provide you with these tools, but they don’t need to enforce them on you.
Therefore, it is your choice whether or not to use RG tools. But we would advise all bettors to – this is your fault proof way of keeping a steady head and not getting caught up in fomo or betting trends and hype.
Organizations That Can Provide More Resources
America has a national helpline for problem gambling that connects you with agents who can provide advice, counsel and help address any concerns you have about gambling. The helpline offers call, text and even chat services, and these run 24/7. You can reach out to ask counsel for yourself or on someone else’s behalf (if a loved one or someone you know may need help), and get their services.
- US National Helpline: 1-800-522-4700
The helpline has foreign language options, and while calls are recorded for monitoring purposes, anyone who calls retains their privacy and the communications are completely confidential. The helpline does not use geolocation, and operators cannot trace your location.
The National Council on Problem Gambling, that offers the helpline, has help centers all over the 50 US states and outlying territories. It is an organization that all licensed US sportsbooks are a part of. If you browse through the NPCG organizational members, you will find DraftKings, FanDuel, etc, and sports organizations like the NFL, NBA MLB, and so on.
Other RG institutions that you can turn to if you need more professional counsel include:
- International Center for Responsible Gambling
- Responsible Online Gaming Association
- American Gaming Association
If you need self help or support groups for advice, you can turn to:
- Gamblers Anonymous
- Responsible Gambling Council
RG Laws in the US
In the US, you are not mandated by law to use responsible gambling tools. Compliant sportsbook operators have to provide you with gambling tools such as deposit limits and self exclusion, and they have to work with organizations such as NPCG to promote safer gambling practises to their members.
There have been initiatives by both state authorities and also sportsbook operators to extend the player protection measures in their own rights. Iowa, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Illinois have all banned credit cards as deposit methods for betting sites. DraftKings has also removed credit card payments from its services in all the states where it operates.
But right now there are no federal gambling policies that make RG tools and measures compulsory among bettors – that is something you are given the freedom to decide whether you want to use or not.
“Alternate” Betting Sites
Peer to peer, DFS, Social/Sweeps Sportsbooks, Prediction Markets and more
There are loads of alternative sites and apps that do not offer conventional sports betting, but they offer products that closely resemble sports betting. Daily fantasy sports, peer to peer betting platforms and platforms, social sportsbooks (also called sweeps sportsbooks), and recently, prediction markets all have products that are not legally classified as sports betting.
Whether they offer real money contests or trading exchanges – or freemium products with virtual currency staking – they all have opportunities to make predictions with the potential to win real money prizes.
These apps can also create the same emotional responses, psychological triggers and induce impulsivity as sports betting platforms. They are not, however, mandated by laws to provide players with responsible gambling tools.
The best social sportsbooks, P2P betting apps, DFS apps, and alternative sports betting platforms will still give you some responsible gambling tools, and provide you with professional support teams and possibly links to safer gambling organizations. You can read about these in our reviews and find out which apps have responsible measures for members.
Understanding Chance and Risk
In sports betting, your guess is as good as the operators who generate the odds. You analyze the same statistics, run hypotheticals in your head, and use your knowledge of the game/teams/players to make your predictions. Possibly, you also use a betting tool to make projections or utilize a good betting software to gauge the probabilities. But the sportsbook does not have anything on your prediction, it is a guessing game.
However, the sportsbooks use juice to ensure that they can get their cut at the end of the day. And that makes it all the more difficult for anyone to make a profit in their sports betting endeavors. You cannot beat the house edge, but what you can do is weigh the risks and take your chances in a calculated way. Using your sports knowledge, doing thorough research with a betting tool, or combining both to get an accurate assessment of the chance and risk.
Every bet carries an inherent risk, and even if you are betting on the heavy favorites, there is still a chance that they will lose. Never assume you will win your bet, or that there are any safer bets.
Responsible gambling comes with accepting the risks, and even the smallest chance that your bet can lose. The loss may hit you worse because you made an informed decision and all the factors seemed to point in your way. But you cannot afford to get disheartened or emotionally triggered. Settle for the loss, and don’t chase your losses or bet in impulse. You will get your chance again to make a prediction, and you want to do that in full confidence and not out of impulse.
OddsPlays Top Tips
Responsible gambling tools can work well in a longterm sports betting strategy, and any bettor who wants to develop good habits, make the most of value bets, and optimize their bankroll can definitely use these RG measures to work to their needs.
Make Practical Deposit Limits
Setting a limit gives you a frame to work in; it helps you gauge what is worth the bite and what is not. You are not needlessly pumping in money everytime you go bust. Hopefully, you aren’t going bust at all, but make steady deposits into your account and always build on your bankroll. When you are happy with the sum, you cash out the surplus.
The psyche behind the deposit limit is that you can’t just deposit a big sum of money at any time. You have to wait for the next time frame, and even then you can’t make an emotionally charged larger deposit.
Track Your Bankroll
Having deposit limits and depositing more consistently rather than erratically also makes it much easier to track your spending at a sportsbook. Tracking your bets gives you an idea of where your strengths are, and which types of bets work best for you.
Over the long run those results will clear up and won’t be warped by short term variance. There are many arguments for why tracking your performance is worth it and how it’s beneficial. The big argument against it is that tracking bets is time consuming. But we would interject and say that there are plenty of betting software and tools, a lot of which are not very expensive (or even free), that have basic portfolio tracking and ROI metrics on your wagers.
Stay Sharp and Focused When Betting
Setting reality checks has its uses in sports betting and they cannot be underestimated. When you spend too much time comparing bets, looking for value odds, and measuring stats for alternate lines, it can be mentally taxing.
You may not feel tired, but if you feel indecisive, frustrated, easily distracted and find it hard to make practical decisions, then you may be fatigued or overwhelmed by too many choices and possibilities. The simple fix is to take a break – you don’t want to make a decision in that state of overwhelm.
Only place bets when you feel sharp and fully accept the associated risks.
Never Settle for Less with Your Bets
Having limits, taking regular breaks and tracking your bets, you will not get as easily swayed by public sentiment, betting hypes and trends that most bettors would feel fomo over. You don’t want to settle for a bet based on these factors.
You are accountable for the risks and any potential losses. So when placing your wagers, only pick the bets that meet your standard for risk to reward, and don’t just place a bet for the sake of betting. It is far better to save that money and use it on a wager that you believe in and can get behind.
