Why Online Gambling Is More Dangerous Than Casino Gambling?

The world of online gambling hides many dangers. Take a close look to find out in which ways online gambling sites can pose a bigger threat than regular casinos. Nowadays, if you want to go out and play poker, you no longer have to drive for hundreds of mile to the nearest casino. Instead, you can just open an internet gambling site and play a few rounds of online poker. The development of the Internet has made everything a lot easier to do, and much more accessible. So nowadays, pretty much anyone can find an online casino they can gamble at, regardless of their physical location.

But is it really more dangerous than gambling in a casino? Well, the answer is both yes and no. Physical casinos use a variety of tricks to make people play more and lose more money. They don’t let any sunlight in, and they remove any clocks from the casino. That way, the players can’t tell how long they have been gambling.

Casinos will also use specific types of music to make people bet more and make the games with the worst odds for the players the flashiest ones in the casino to draw the players to them.

Furthermore, land-based casinos will usually offer much worse odds for their slots games than their online counterparts.

Why Can Gambling Be so Dangerous?

For many reasons, although the initial purpose of gambling is to simply have fun, there are still people who take this hobby too seriously. Moreover, gambling is the main form of their monthly income. If you take gambling too far, there are far too many issues that can occur.

Gambling addiction is the problem number one that comes to everybody’s mind when they think about betting, but this is only the beginning. Once you develop an addiction, things start to spiral down. Soon enough, you find yourself in debt, you put a mortgage on your home, and you lose touch with reality, as well as with your closest ones. And just like any other thing in this world that’s not handled seriously and responsibly, gambling can eat your life out if you don’t handle it with caution.

Playing with money can often be dangerous, and responsible gamblers know this very well — As a way to keep it safe, they develop methods to limit the amount of money they can spend in a casino. Just like land-based casinos, Internet casinos aren’t safe either. So let’s take a look at why they can be dangerous.

It’s a Lot More Difficult to Avoid Than Traditional Casinos

If you develop gambling problems, the first thing you should do is stop going to casinos. With brick-and-mortar institutions, that is relatively easy to do. But if you have an online gambling problem, you will soon realize that there is nothing stopping you from opening an internet casino and playing online.

Moreover, if you become a problem gambler, you can have yourself banned from a casino. In the real world, that is an effective countermeasure. But in the online universe, another casino is just a click away. And even if you gather the mental strength and exclude yourself from one casino, you can just open another one tomorrow.

And it’s not like you can just remove yourself from all devices that can let you access a casino. It is possible, but nowadays, most people simply can’t afford to be without a computer or a smartphone.

There Is No One to Stop You

Online gamblers can play regardless of their location. That, of course, is one of the most enticing things about it. You can gamble from the train on your way to work, from your living room, bathroom, or even from your job.

But that array of possibilities can also pose an issue for people with an online gambling addiction. If you go to a casino and spend 48 hours playing, people around you will notice and get worried. But if you simply gamble online, nobody will notice that your behavior is becoming problematic. And that can increase the time spent playing indefinitely, giving you plenty more chances to win, but also, a lot more opportunities to lose.

You Have All of Your Money at Hand

Not only is your time unrestricted when playing online but your credit card info is everything you need to start betting. Within minutes, you can start gambling with access to your entire bank account.

When people go to casinos, they usually set aside the amount of money they want to spend. But with online casinos, that is not as simple. Since you can access your entire bank account, the amount of money you have at your disposal is incredible.

Unfortunately, that makes chasing losses a lot easier to do. That is especially true if you initially spend more money than you’ve expected.

Rogue Casinos

Online casinos have a set of rules they should follow to ensure the safety of their customers. But not all of them abide by those rules. In fact, there is a large number of rogue casinos operating online that will use shady business models to get your money.

Some of those casinos use predatory terms and conditions that can make it impossible for you to collect your winnings. For example, one rogue casino has a rule that says that, if you place an even money bet, all your winnings are void. And all of their games that offer even money bets have those options. And when it comes to rogue casinos, one should mention that some of them run phishing scams. Namely, they might steal your details and leave you open to identity theft.

Cheating

If you decide to play multiplayer games online, you are at risk of meeting dishonest opponents. People will use computer programs to predict your hands, they will cooperate to decrease your odds, and they will cheat in every way they can.

In traditional casinos, that type of cheating is made almost impossible. After all, they keep all of their players under scrutiny, and they can notice any dishonest moves. Many unsuccessful attempts to cheat have been recorded over the years thanks to that scrutiny.

Here Are a Couple of Additional Reasons

Next to all these aforementioned traps that online gambling sites created just to get your money, there are a couple of more reasons why the universe of online betting can be dangerous.

• You lose the sense of real money. If you don’t see some actual cash going through your hands, you’re not aware of how much you spend.
• The ‘Free to Play’ trap. Many casinos will offer you free versions of some games where you smoothly land jackpots. Of course, these high winning odds are not so high once you start playing for real money.
• Self-exclusion programs are debatable. A lot of reputable online casinos will lock your account if you demand it. But really, what’s there to stop you from gambling at a different online casino?
• You can gamble after substance abuse. If a player has problems with alcohol addiction or drug addiction, a traditional casino won’t let them enter in this state. However, they can bet in online casinos as much as they want.
• Gambling with disreputable online casinos can result in identity theft. If the casino isn’t legally regulated, what’s there to stop it from stealing all of your credit card information?
• Online gambling often has no legal age barrier. This is but another addition to the list of dangers of online gambling. Apparently, a lot of online gamblers are minors who stole their parents’ credit cards and started gambling.
• Hence why teen online gambling is a problem today. People who gamble as minors become addicts thereof. One problem leads to another, and people who start to bet early in their lives often end up addicted.

In the Words of Wise Men

 

Over times, many people gambled and lost. William Bolitho, a journalist and a good friend of Ernest Hemingway said: ‘A gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of false hope.’ So if you plan for your only income to come from gambling, you won’t have a good time.

Mario Puzo, the writer of the famous book ‘The Godfather,’ said — ‘Show me a gambler, and I’ll show you a loser.’ This comes as a testimony that with gambling, the odds are not in your favor. The house always wins, and every serious gambler knows this.

Most importantly — ‘Gambling is a family disease. One person may be addicted, but the whole family suffers.’ Gamblers are not facing this problem alone — If they lose a lot of money or even their home, their children are the ones who get hurt the most. All these famous people tried to give significance to responsible gambling as much as they could, so it might be wise to listen to their advice.

How Do I Overcome Gambling Addiction?

If you suffer from online gambling addiction, you should not be ashamed — You need to shout for help. Your family and friends are there for you, so spend a lot of time with them. Here are a couple of tips and treatments to help you fight the addiction:

• Spend a lot of time with your family and friends
• Download tools that ban you from casino websites
• Find some of the Gamblers Anonymous groups in your area
• Talk to a therapist about your problem
• Let your partner handle the finances

Researchers say that gambling is often more dangerous than any other addiction, so it is important that you reach out. Acknowledging that you have a problem is already a victory, but letting others support you will help you win this war.

Gambling Is There to Entertain Us

People invented all the gambling games so they could have fun — The point was never to live off of them. So if you want to gamble, make sure you set apart a small amount of money that you can spend in casinos. If you win, you can treat yourself and your family — And if you lose, nobody will suffer for it. Whether gambling is harmless or dangerous depends solely on you. Try to have fun, and keep it responsible. Best of luck out there.