Responsible Gambling

Responsible Gambling is a construct within the casino industry that relies on social responsibility initiatives to promote awareness of the harms associated with gambling, such as gambling addiction.

Risk of gambling addiction. The strict Dutch gambling law is there for a reason. Entering an (online) casino or participating in a lottery has certain short term and long term risks. You could get addicted or lose a lot of money. According to an article in the newspaper NRC there are at least 80.000 Dutch people with a gambling addiction! Especially short games of chance are addictive. Gamblers get several chances per minute to win. How more chances there are, how more addictive a game of chance is. So table games such as Roulette and Poker or slot machines are dangerous for people who get easily addicted. They can be better participate in a lottery if they want to gamble. A lottery is usually less addictive because a draw only takes place weekly or once a month.

A vicious circle

If someone is addicted to gambling, he or she doesn’t act reasonable anymore. Because of financial problems he or she gambles way too long. Often this leads to even more losses. It becomes a vicious circle: borrowing money to win back the lost money leads to more losses and huge financial problems. Some of these people try to stop gambling. It leads to terrible withdrawal symptoms, such as sleeping disorders, stomach complaints, headache and depressions.

Social and financial problems

A person with a gambling addiction usually gambles for many hours. This affects all parts of life, because there is no time for family and friends anymore. The gambler eventually prefers the casino above social events and this could lead to misunderstandings with other people. Family and friends simply don’t understand why gambling is so important. They feel neglected and try to argument with the gambler, usually to no advance. The situation even becomes worse when the gambler also doesn’t pay attention to his or her work/study anymore. All the time needs to be spend at the casino, so the gambler is absent or doesn’t deliver anymore. Sometimes the situation leads to a dismissal, which only increases the financial and social problems of the gambling addict. Wide variety of casino and lottery games

Perhaps the information about gambling addiction makes you a bit scared. Don’t be, because most gamblers just have a great time in a casino. Just don’t play too much and always have a budget. If you’ve lost this budget, stop gambling. By doing so, gambling is a way to relax that doesn’t influence your life in a negative way. Nowadays people can chose between a broad amount of casino games and lotteries. Perhaps you’ve already tried a lot of them. You’re absolutely not the only one. A lot of people like lotteries, gambling machines and casino games such as Roulette and Poker. Most casino games are based on chance, so knowledge and skills usually don’t have any influence on the game. Poker and Blackjack are an exception though. In these games you play against other people instead of the casino. This is an advantage, because only the person with the best strategies and ‘poker face’ wins. It’s true that as a player you need to have a good position to begin with. Despite that, your own choice if you want to place a high or low bet. You can also decide to stop with the game after a number of rounds. Just remember: always play careful, never spend too much and have a lot of fun!