Responsible Gambling
The online betting industry is rapidly growing in Nigeria. While these operators, such as 22Bet, offer Nigerian bettors fun betting markets, there’s a need to outline the best practices for these activities.
Read on as we guide you through responsible gambling, the signs to watch out for, and how to get professional help.
What Is Responsible Gambling?
Responsible or safer gambling is a set of practices designed to ensure that online betting is done for fun and moderately. These tools or practices are put in place to minimise the harm of gambling.
Online betting, either in sports or casino gaming, is designed for entertainment and not a source of income. When seen otherwise, that’s a problem. The same with gambling money you can’t afford to lose, or money meant for important purposes.
In order to prevent such downsides, both the betting operators and users have roles to play. For online operators such as 22Bet, this role involves preventing minors from accessing the services and providing players with responsible gambling tools.
Bettors, on the other hand, are required to adhere to safe gambling practices and seek help when needed. Some of the responsible gambling practices include:
- Never gamble with more than you can afford to lose.
- Set a money and time limit for each betting section and stick to it.
- Don’t borrow to gamble.
- Accept losing as part of gambling; know when to walk away.
- Gamble only for fun with a clear head and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- Make sure betting does not affect your work, finances, or family.
- If gambling causes you stress or anxiety, then it is time to take a break from it.
Signs of Problems
Having no control over gambling habits is one of the signs of a problem. Gambling problems or addictions are behaviours that damage a bettor’s life and finances.
While gambling is fun, it comes with certain dark sides too when done excessively. Here are signs of gambling problems to watch out for:
- Borrowing money to gamble.
- Always betting money meant for important purposes.
- Lying to hide the extent of gambling.
- Losing important relationships or opportunities because of gambling.
- Running into debt due to gambling losses.
- Stealing money to gamble.
- Always thinking about gambling.
- Feeling restless when trying to cut down on gambling activities.
Getting Professional Help
All’s not lost when it comes to gambling problems. If you are faced with such issues or are concerned about a loved one, professional help is within reach. We did our findings and have put together a list of help channels.
- GambleAlert
- Gambling Therapy
- Gamblers Anonymous
Unfortunately, there are no specialist treatment centres for gambling addictions in Nigeria. Awareness of gambling problems and responsible practices is pretty limited, too, even among online gambling operators. So the best course of action is to take matters into your own hands.
One such measure includes downloading gambling-blocking software on your mobile devices. Examples of this software are:
You can also reach out to the gambling online operator to activate the self-exclusion option.
Registration