Gambling Debt

Online Gambling is becoming an increasingly popular form of gambling, and there are now an estimated 1,700 gambling websites on the Internet. As well as the Internet, you can now gamble through interactive television and a mobile phone.

The convience of gambling at home, the ease of setting up an gambling account and the variety of forms of gambling - from traditional betting, to casino gambling, bingo and lotteries - makes online gambling very appealing.

However, whilst many people gamble online without any problems GamCare has started to see an increase in the amount of people contacting our helpline and counselling services who are losing control of their gambling online. There are some factors of online gambling that could certainly increase the risk of developing a gambling problem. These are:

The ability to gamble 24 hours a day in your own home > The incresed risk of exposure and access by children > The absorption of computers, leading people to lose track of time whilst gambling > The decrease in the perception of the value of cash - i.e. players are forgetting that they are spending money

Online Tips

If you are currently gambling online or want to in the future, and are wary of the need to keep control of your gambling, the tips below should help:

• Keep track of the time that you are playing for.
• Only spend what you can afford to lose, keep track of your spend whilst playing and remember that the numbers on the screen are REAL MONEY
• Avoid chasing your losses
• If you're a parent keep your password safe, and if you wish, use software to block access to gambling sites from minors
• Look for sites with options where you can set your own spend and session limits, which should help you to control your gambling
• If you are having a problem then you can request to be self-excluded from the site. There is also software that blocks access to all online gambling sites.

Debt is a problem that is ever increasing in our society today. Offers for credit cards coming in the mail is happening more and more often, interest rates are appearing low, and borrowing money seems like the “smart” thing to do at times. However, it seems that going into debt is not that good of an idea after all, and now many people are stressed to get out of debt. Are you caught in debt yourself?

Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to get yourself out of debt.

1. Make lists. Figure out what you own, and figure out what you owe. Take what you owe, and put the major debts at the top of the list. Paying off those debts first will reduce the amount of interest that you are charged. Once that is paid off, you can then move on to the next item on the list, and so on.
2. Do away with all credit cards. There are no buts, simply get rid of them. Do not roll over balances, ever. Pay them off and get rid of them. Call the credit card companies and tell them to close up the accounts.