Your Journey

Betting is a fun activity that requires a number of essential behaviours to ensure that the enjoyment aspect is sustainable when participating.  Instilling some core actions in the way you approach betting you will make a huge difference to your entertainment experience. 

Affordability

Participation in betting & gaming is personal choice that must be balanced in terms of expenditure. A key behaviour before any activity takes place is to determine the amount of money you want to spend on this activity.

 

  • Use a budget calculator to determine the disposable income that you have available after all your fixed monthly outgoings have been accounted for.

 

  • Betting is one part of an individuals social and leisure time. Ensuring that other hobbies and interests, family events such as dining out or playing sports are also factored in. Ensuring that your betting activity has a balanced proportion of spending money allocated is good practice.

 

  • Be mindful of other aspects when it comes to budgeting. Holidays, birthdays and Christmas are also things to be taken care of before you make the decision on how much to spend on your betting activity.

 

More information on budget planning

Treat your time in the way you do your finances.  Ask yourself if you can afford to spend the time you are planning and that it doesn’t conflict with other things you have planned. 

 

  • One of the most enjoyable parts of betting is research. Make sure that you are able to build this in before making any decisions. 

 

  • Like all forms of leisure betting & gaming should be part of a balanced lifestyle. You have home, work, exercise and many other things to plan in. Give them your time too. 

 

  • Like any other activity, it is enjoyable when done in a planned and organised way. If you don’t have the time to enjoy the whole process you will not get the entertainment value you deserve. If you don’t have the time available save it for another day. 

Every responsible player uses these to great effect. After deciding how much you want to spend and the time that you have available to enjoy your participation these tools can ensure that you stick to those commitments. 

 

  • Deposit limits set to the amount that you have allocated for a given period of time is great practice. 

 

  • Limits can be set regarding the time you spend betting, making sure it forms part of a balanced lifestyle for you. 

 

  • Time out tools can also be great support options for you. If you are taking some time to be away with the family, or need to dedicate your focus to other things then take a time out for a period that suits and then return whenever you choose. 

 

More information on applying limits

Planning & Preparation

Great diligence with the budgeting of time and funds to spend must be supported with equal effort in the decision making process. No different than buying something from a shop. 

 

  • What is my decision to participate based on?
  • How much of my budget do I want to use per event?
  • What value am I going to gain from taking part?
 
Betting on an event requiring knowledge and research has elements of skill. Gaming such as slots and casino are largely games of chance so being mindful about staking is essential. The same goes with your decision to take part. You’ll enjoy your activity having gained knowledge from research. Good research combined with sensible staking will ensure you are able to get a return in enjoyment and increase your opportunity to get a financial return too. 

 

The knowledge to make more informed decisions is an everyday life activity.  Using this when participating in betting is best practice. 

 

  • Listening to a number of trusted opinions can help to identify consistent patterns to help narrow down your choices. Many pundits, former participants and expert punters are generous with their opinions and following them can give you a great deal of information to help you make your selections. 

 

  • Social media can be a great tool but make sure to double check the validity of the source. 

 

  • Be sure to use stats alongside your own opinions. Just because something has happened before does not mean it is guaranteed to happen again.

 

  • Some of the very best content about events is found on the site of bookmakers. Blogs containing previews, stats and predictions are fantastic resources to be consumed. 

Listen to others and consume as much information as you can before making your selections. One of the most enjoyable aspects of betting is trying to solve the puzzle. It is a skill and one that can be more informed when properly researched. 

 

  • Use the knowledge you have gained from the research to make your own call. 

 

  • What are the odds telling you about the likelihood of success? Consider the probability of this when deciding how much to place as your stake. 

Monitoring

Working hard to set yourself a budget from good financial planning and implementing robust time management is a strong foundation. You have also made sound decisions about what to participate and the amount to allocate. Being able to monitor your progress to ensure you are on course to meet these is an important behaviour.  

 

  • How is your budget plan working for you?

 

  • Have the tools that you utilised from your bookmaker been helpful so far?

 

  • Have you noticed ay patterns from the sources of research that are proving to be more informative than others?

Evaluation of the return you are getting is an essential behaviour. As well as ensuring that you achieve your financial objective the enjoyment and entertainment factor is also key. 

 

  • How are your selections performing and can you learn anything from these to form part of your future research?
  • Which of your sources of research are proving to be accurate?
  • Is the money that you are spending giving you the expected level of enjoyment?
  • Have you already reached a return that you are happy with and can take your funds and do something else that you enjoy?

Reflection

Responsible play isn’t something that just happens. As outlined, lots of planning, research and focus is required. Taking time after an event or after participating in betting activity to evaluate the process, as you would in other aspects of life is another best practice.

 

  • Did you meet your expectations in terms of the amount of time and money that you spent?

 

  • What impact did the planning and research you did have on the overall experience?

 

  • What did you learn from the outcome of your betting selections or gaming choices and what can that do to help your processes in the future?

Understanding the things that work well enables us to adopt them for future. Life should be learned backwards and lived forwards!

 

  • Did the time and money budgeting enable you to achieve that balanced lifestyle?

 

  • Did the research using blogs and other preview content help you to make more informed decisions?

 

  • Did you make good use of the support tools from your bookmaker to enable you to achieve the outcomes that you expected of yourself?

Betting is entertainment and the number 1 expectation is that you should have had fun and enjoyment as a minimum return. There are many outcomes that can be measured to determine success. 

 

  • What aspects did you enjoy? Successful budgeting, the research, informed decision making should all be considered. 

 

  • Did you get a return financially? If so plan to do something nice with it. Keep to your budget plan and use any returns to take the enjoyment that little bit further. 

 

  • Did your participation enhance the event you were part of or improve your social experience?