Financial management is important if you don’t want your visits to the casino to turn into a sob story. Generally, we all have a budget for gambling. But the possibility of winning more can easily blind you making you blow all your budget faster or at once. And if you don’t have discipline and good financial management skills, you may begin to dip into funds for other purposes.
When gambling, it’s easy to forget you have other financial obligations like paying mortgage, children’s school fees and so on. You are just focused on the prize and recouping your losses if you’ve not been having good luck.
So we don’t want to hear your sob story. As a result, we’ll be teaching you effective financial management skills in this chapter. These are practical and pragmatic approaches that will help you stay within your budget and avoid overspending.
First Rule Of Financial Management – Set A Budget
The first thing you should do when you want to gamble is to set a budget and stick to it. That’s essentially the first rule of financial management. You need to set out the amount you are willing to risk on gambling. Your budget must include transportation fee to the casino, hotel and food expenses and so on.
So before stepping into a casino, decide on the amount you are willing to spend. Or more accurately, the amount you are willing to lose. Gambling is a fun experience for us. And it should be that for you too. But gambling can quickly become a sour experience if you have bad financial management skills.
Financial Management II: Knowing How To Set Your Budget.
Setting a budget for gambling can be a tricky thing. Yes, you are supposed to gamble with an amount you can afford to lose but how much exactly should you budget. Now, most people don’t see gambling as a lifestyle. It’s a form of entertainment like say skydiving. Well, maybe not exactly like skydiving but you get some sorts of thrill and excitement from gambling.
A good way to determine how much to spend on gambling is to consider the costs of other things you do for fun. If you spend about $1000 on a vacation, then it makes no sense to spend more than that on gambling. When you go on vacation or engage in other fun stuff, you make sure the amount you spend doesn’t affect your day-to-day lifestyle. Apply the same to gambling and you’ll not have any stories that touch.
Now, you are getting there. There are still a number of things you still have to learn about financial management. You can now take a break and have a bottle of soda or whatever.
Set A Daily Limit
Effective financial management requires you set a daily limit. Blowing all your budget in one night makes absolutely no sense. Divide your budget by the number of times you’ll be playing in a week/month. And stay within your budget.
Even when you win, still stick to your budget. It is these financial management practices that will make sure gambling doesn’t become a problem in your life.
Effective Financial Management Means Keeping Bets Consistent
Yes, you need to keep your bets consistent. The truth is that you don’t benefit from changing the amount of your bets. Bet the same amount each time and you’ll find yourself getting better at financial management.
It’s very tempting to increase your bets when you are winning. Also, the same temptation may arise when you are losing. You try to increase your bets with the hope of winning big and cutting your losses. However, this can lead to you blowing your budget faster and even touching money meant for other purposes.
So you really need to be disciplined. Financial management will be a lot easier if you are disciplined.
Limiting Your Losses
You’ll make losses if you are into gambling. That’s a fact. But you can limit your losses. And one way to do that is to head for the door when you’ve exhausted your daily limit. Find something else to do. But don’t stay in the casino to avoid temptation.
Another thing that can help you in financial management is to set a time limit on gambling. And when the time’s reached, you bounce. As you know, you are more likely to lose your focus and perspective the longer you play. And try to get up and stretch your legs in between breaks. You may even drink plenty of water so you have to make frequent trips to the bathroom.
You should also consider setting up win limits. This way, you take something home and you avoid blowing your winnings. Believe us, people blow their winnings quite frequently.
Avoid Casino Credit
Casino credit has advantages such as free meals, entertainment, an invitation to a big casino event, and so on. But you’ll do well to steer clear of casino credit and bet with cash instead. Once your cash is exhausted, you leave. But with casino credit, you can go on betting even after you’ve exceeded your daily limit. And that’s not good for financial management.
Not surprisingly, setting up a casino line of credit is easy. Casinos want you to have money to gamble. We don’t need to tell you how. However, the best protection you can give yourself in a casino is knowledge. Know all there is to know (including odds) of the game you’ll be playing. This will massively help you in financial management as you know when you’ve taken things too far or need to step up your game.
Don’t Chase Loses
A lot of people fall victim to this. But you’ll do well to discipline yourself and avoid chasing losses. This will prevent you from losing more money as you become more irrational when chasing losses. Chasing loses is a quick way to ruin, avoid it.
Also, control your alcohol intake in the casino. With free drinks being served, it’s very easy to get drunk. And a drunk gambler lavishes a lot of money. Not good for financial management, huh?
Also, you have to check yourself to find out if you have a gambling addiction. The signs include trying to escape other problems in your life through gambling. Also, borrowing money to cover gambling debts is another sign.
If you have a gambling addiction, first know you are not alone. There are a number of support groups that can help you get through it. You can also check out Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.
What About Taxes?
It’s easy to think gambling winnings are exempted from taxes. But as you may have heard several times, two things are certain in life. And that’s death as taxes. So yes, you have to pay taxes on your winnings. And good financial management practices means taking this into account.
Classifying taxes on your winnings is a complex topic. Our advice on this is to consult your CPA or accountant. We are not tax advisors and we don’t play one on the internet. What we are giving you here is financial management advice. And please do not fool the IRS and try to avoid taxes. You don’t want to get into trouble with Uncle Sam.
Conclusion
Gambling should be fun and not become a source of problems in your life. With this financial management advice, you’ll experience an enjoyable gambling experience without running into debt.
Share this with your friends and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section. For now, adios!