Knowing When to Call it Quits and Take a Break

Setting Limits

There are several degrees of taking a break from online casino gambling, depending on the situation at hand. Before you begin any session you must be clear as to the amount that you want to wager and the time you want to spend in that session. Setting the session budget is discussed in a separate article. Allotting the time depends on the demands of your work and family life. You must make sure that neither is affected because both are more important than online casino gambling. At the first stage you must call it a day when either your budget is used up or your time is used up. Do not give in to the urge of just one more bet because that is an unending process.

Cooling Off Periods

You may find that you are regularly unable to stop wagering even though your allotted time and budget for the session expires. Or you may be regularly increasing the budget or time so as to satisfy you urge for online casino gambling. When this happens you know that it is time to take a longer break. Some online casino players will be able to desist from online gambling for a while when faced with this situation. Other players may not be able to do so. Our recommended Australian online casinos offer a mechanism to help such players. There is a provision to activate a cooling off period. You will get complete information about this from a responsible gaming section of the online casino. Usually, you will be able to opt for a cooling off period from 24 hours to 7 days.

Self-Exclusion

If you find that even this has not helped and you are unable to stop gambling excessively then you should opt out for a longer period. You can activate the self-exclusion provision provided by the online casino. Most online casinos would have a minimum six month self-exclusion period. If you choose any of these options, your casino account will be locked and you will not be able to access it. You will also not receive any promotional correspondence from the online casino for the duration of the exclusion period. The cooling-off period and self-exclusion may have to be activated through customer support or it may be done online directly by you. Some online casinos may require that you send an e-mail to this effect.

Taking a break when you need to do so is only the first part of the activity. You will also have to take concrete steps to get over the habit of compulsive gambling. It is very important that you discuss the issue with a relevant family member such as spouse, parent or child. Rest assured that professional help is also easily available. We offer detailed information on this in the problem gambling section.