How to Control Your Emotions While Gambling

Emotions While Gambling

In an internet casino in Ireland, playing games can become so competitive that you become emotional while gambling. Having emotions isn’t a big issue, but the problem lies in the inability to control your feelings. This guide will teach you how to manage your emotions while playing in a casino.

Why You Should Control Your Emotions While Gambling

Gambling’s nature allows you to be super focused and invest your physical, financial and, at times, emotional self. However, while the first two are needed, the last one isn’t, and if it gets out of hand, it becomes problematic. When you become emotional while gambling, you will lose your focus and money and may bring in a fight with other players. A brawl on the internet may seem impossible, but with cyberbullying getting emotional is worse.

You may break some of the casino’s rules and regulations in your emotional state, which would get you kicked out. It would help if you controlled your emotions while gambling to finish the game with a levelled head. For your safety and that of other players, you must learn to stay calm. Controlling your feelings helps you avoid spending beyond your limit and getting kicked out by the betting site. It’s important to control your emotions while gambling, whether at an online casino or a physical one, as it can lead to losing focus, breaking the rules, and getting kicked out. Below are ways to control your emotions while gambling.

gambling sadness

Be Rational During a Game

When playing at online slot machines, it’s best to bring your rational self and not your emotional self to the game. Being reasonable is the best way to stay calm during a game. When playing the game, always consider every angle to have a sort of prediction. Having an estimate of how the game would turn out would help you not get shocked at the eventual outcome. Placing smaller bets is also an act of rational thinking, as you don’t get to lose a lot of money overall.

Identify Your Feelings

Of course, there are times that the eventual outcome of playing at an online slot machine is still shocking regardless of your predictions. When such occurs, it’s best to pause and identify your feelings. Ask yourself if you feel angry, sad, disappointed or excited. Whatever answers you get from your self-quizzing will help you determine the next step to take. It may take some time, but eventually, it will be worthwhile.

Deal with Your Emotions Healthily

Negative feelings like anger, sadness, or disappointment aren’t bad, however, being unable to deal with them healthily is detrimental. After identifying your feelings, you need to deal with them healthily. First, when angry or worked up, you need to do some breathing exercises to calm down and relax. It would help if you took a slow breath in through your nose, then out through your mouth. Do this for a couple of minutes, and you will find yourself visibly relaxed.

If you’re too worked up to continue the game, it’s best to leave the game and go elsewhere to clear your head. Being positive is also beneficial in controlling your emotions. Things aren’t always bad when losing, and a positive mindset helps point that out.

online gambling

Always Accept the Outcome; Even When It’s Bad

Accepting the outcome is crucial for playing casino slots online without getting emotional. There will always be bad and good outcomes when gambling, and knowing, understanding and accepting this will help you stay calm. So, even when it’s terrible, always take the result just like you would when it’s good.

Some players don’t understand this and become sore losers. Sometimes, you may find an online casino review where such a sore loser says terrible things about the casino. You don’t want to become that person, so strive to not get worked up.

Never Chase the Cash You Lose

You may have heard this statement that you should never chase the cash you lose; well, yes, it’s true, so never do it. One of the situations that spur your negative feelings is when you don’t know when to quit. Once you lose a bet, the best thing is to either keep playing if you haven’t exhausted your budget or, if you have, leave the game. If you keep playing, it’s to place another bet and win and not to gain the one you have lost. You don’t want to spend all your money because you keep chasing your losses.

Final Thoughts

Controlling your emotions is vital when playing casino slots online. You can keep your feelings in check by gambling at a reliable site. Check an online casino review for the information about the site’s games before diving into it. The above tips are also ways to ensure your emotions are under control while playing casino slots online.

Article edited and fact checked by our editorial team

References:

  • Responsible Gambling Council. Take a Safer Approach to Gambling. Retrieved from: https://www.responsiblegambling.org/for-the-public/safer-play/safer-gambling-tips/
  • Petry NM, Stinson FS, Grant BF. Comorbidity of DSM-IV pathological gambling and other psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. J Clin Psychiatry. 2005 May;66(5):564-74. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v66n0504. PMID: 15889941.
  • Gambling disorder. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision DSM-5-TR. American Psychiatric Association
  • Biddle D, Hawthorne G, Forbes D, Coman G. Problem gambling in Australian PTSD treatment-seeking veterans. Journal of Traumatic Stress: Official Publication of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. 2005;18(6):759–767. doi: 10.1002/jts.20084
  • Najavits LM, Ledgerwood DM, Afifi TO. A Randomized Controlled Trial for Gambling Disorder and PTSD: Seeking Safety and CBT. J Gambl Stud. 2023 Dec;39(4):1865-1884. doi: 10.1007/s10899-023-10224-z. Epub 2023 Jun 12. PMID: 37306874; PMCID: PMC10258785.