How to Use a ‘Loss Limit’ (Not Just a ‘Deposit Limit’) to Be a Smarter Gambler
If you’re a gambler, you’ve probably heard the term “self-exclusion” before. Licensed online casinos like casino Fortunica offer various tools to help you manage (and limit) your gambling habits.
These tools help keep gambling a hobby, but most players prefer to use the deposit limit among these tools.
This is because they believe that as long as they prevent themselves from making deposits, they will be able to play in a more controlled manner.
However, setting a loss limit can be much more beneficial and effective: let’s take a look at why.
Deposit Limits Don’t Cap How Much You Can Lose
Let’s consider a scenario that applies to most gamblers. In this scenario:
- You start playing with a deposit of £100 and win £40.
- You now start playing with £40 because this is technically “house money,” and even if you lose it, you won’t suffer a real loss.
- For the same reason, you start playing with higher stakes and lose £40 in a short time.
- Immediately after that, you continue playing with your initial £100 deposit and lose that too.
- Now, you need to make a new deposit to win back all your losses – this time, your luck will be on your side, right?
There is an emotional loop here: after the initial £40 win, your brain becomes overconfident and all the limits you set for yourself disappear – you start to think that losing is impossible. As long as the “chase” continues, you don’t feel your losses.
You can’t break this loop by setting deposit limits because this option still doesn’t cap the amount of money you can lose. To understand what this means, let’s start by explaining what a loss limit is.
Loss Limit Explained
This is the upper limit set for the total amount of money you can lose at that casino. It does not take into account your starting balance, deposit amounts, or monthly budget.
Once you reach the loss limit, you will not be able to play anymore, thus protecting your profit. Let’s give an example to help you understand how it works:
- Let’s say you set the loss limit at £60.
- You deposit £50 and win £120. You now have £170 in your casino balance.
- If this balance falls below £110 at any point (170 – 60), you will no longer be able to play.
- This protects your initial £50 deposit. Moreover, you can also protect the profit you made.
We can also explain why this is a better option than a deposit limit by comparing the two:
| DEPOSIT LIMIT | LOSS LIMIT |
| Limits the amount of money you can start playing with | Limits the total amount of money you can lose |
| Does not prevent loss chasing | Completely eliminates loss chasing |
| Is influenced by emotional decisions | Is not influenced by emotional decisions |
| Does not protect your profits | Protects your profits |
There are highly creative ways to bypass your deposit limit: you can use bonus balances, or continue playing with the “house money” you’ve earned.
The loss limit is the ultimate solution, preventing your losses from turning into a major financial problem.
Setting a Realistic Loss Limit
To set a realistic loss limit, each player must consider their own style and budget. However, in general, you should consider the following:
- Set a monthly gambling budget. Make sure it is separate and independent from your other budgets (e.g., your food budget). For the same reason, this should be your final budget, meaning you should look at the money left over after all your other needs have been met and determine how much of that you can allocate to gambling.
- Divide your budget into session units. Decide how many gaming sessions you will complete that month. For example, if you only play on Sundays, that means a total of 4 sessions. Divide your gambling budget accordingly to determine your bankroll for each session. If your gambling budget is, say, £500, you should allocate £125 for each session.
- Determine how much you are willing to lose per session. A good starting point is half of the session bankroll. So, in the example above, the loss limit for each session could be £62.50.
- Stop playing as soon as you reach this limit. If you lose £62.50 in a session, stop playing. If you find this difficult, use self-exclusion tools that allow you to set loss limits.
In this context, let us remind you once again that casinos’ self-exclusion tools can be really useful.
By using these tools, you can set daily/weekly/monthly loss limits, set a time limit for each session, and get rid of the problem of loss chasing by setting cooling-off periods.
You can access/use these tools from your profile page or via customer support – it depends on the casino. And once you set a limit for something, you cannot change/revert it for a specific time, which will help you to prevent emotional decisions.
Here, the message we want to give you is not “gambling is bad.” Such standard slogans mean nothing to a gambler. The message we want to deliver is that gamblers who can control their losses can play longer, have more fun, and gamble more responsibly.
Loss limits help you treat gambling as just a form of entertainment and prevent you from making emotional decisions. For the same reason, every gambler who wants to play responsibly should take advantage of them.
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