We all have a tendency to value money by differing yardsticks – this is especially true when gambling. By and large, seasoned gamblers use similar yardsticks whereas young gamblers at various online gambling venues value money differently. Let me explain this with a story about a couple of professional gamblers on a honeymoon at Las Vegas.
Apart from a honeymoon budget, they had also set aside a $1,000 gambling budget which they exhausted by the third day of their visit to Las Vegas. However, the husband found a $5 chip in the pocket of the trouser he was wearing while gambling. The chip had the number 17 on it. Taking it to be a sign from heaven, he rushed to the roulette table and bet on the number 17. He won! He kept betting all the money that he won on the number 17. Pretty soon, he had won $262 million. But when he bet $262 on the number 17, he lost.
Just then his wife walked in and noticing him coming away from the roulette table, asked “how did you do?” “Not bad, I lost $5”.
I’m betting your reply would have been different. Of course, only a total moron would have put all money on a single number but that’s beside the point. As a gambler at any of the online gambling sites, your money logic needs not only to be honest and sound; it should also protect you from mentally harming yourself.
Here’s another example of money psychology at work. Imagine that you always wanted to buy that lovely pair of branded alligator leather shoes. Till now, the price tag of $500 kept you from actually buying the item. A few months down the line, you are shopping for your wedding suit and after spending $5,000 on a couple of very nice wedding suits, you ask the dealer to include the $500 alligator shoes as well. What tipped the scale? When you are paying $5,000 for your wedding suits, an extra $500 for a pair of nice alligator shoes which is just 10% of your earlier spend does not seem like a lot of money at all.
The first thing that might strike you is how easy it is for anyone playing at any online casino site to imagine money as becoming cheaper the more it is spent. Meaning, we talk ourselves into adding to our losses, or averaging down a losing position by making the bigger bet the winnings of which, will cover previous losses. We see the $$ winnings and not the cost to us if we lose. Of course, if we wish to gamble at any online gambling website than we must have a budget that we are prepared to lose. The problem arises when we overshoot the budget.
If we examine the story of any person who gambled at an online gambling site and went bust, we are sure to find out that the reason the gamblers went bust was always the same – faulty money psychology.
If you are losing whilst gambling at an online gambling site, convincing ourselves to add to our position comes easily and naturally. For example, if you are already losing $15,000 what’s another $2,500? Especially since a win will more than cover up previous losses. $2,500 however, is a lot of money that will take you many hours or days of hard work to make back. It is like mortgaging your future time for your current pleasure. It is a self-defeating strategy and results in people, especially young internet gamblers going bust.
Don’t get me wrong. The purpose of this article is not to discourage you from playing at the best internet casinos but rather, to gamble wisely and never cross your budget.