addition to establishing a budget and portioning it out on a daily — and bet-size — basis, you can employ some simple strategies that help you stay within the framework of your budget. This section contains a few time-honored methods of limiting your losses.
Stop-loss limits: Covering your own butt
You may be familiar with stop-loss limits from the stock market. Stop-loss limits are predetermined rules you set up on your brokerage account to automatically sell your shares if a minor downturn in the market turns into a nosedive.
You can apply the same rationale to gambling. Decide in advance how much you’re willing to risk per trip and per day. (See the section “Determining your daily limits.”) When you lose your preset amount, stop, head for the door, and spend the rest of the day golfing or sightseeing.
Big comebacks — erasing your gambling debt by winning big — are the stuff of legends. And that’s where those stories belong. You’re not gambling in the casino to make a living or pay off your bills. Treat gambling like a vacation, and leave the dreams of making a fortune in the casino for Hollywood movies. (Check out “Resisting the urge to chase losses” in this chapter for more about how this strategy can get you in trouble.)
Time limits: Knowing when you’ve had enough
Another good restraint is to set limits on how long you play each day. Marathon sessions at the tables usually spell disaster. The longer you play, the more likely you are to lose your focus and perspective.
Figure out how to take breaks because they can help you clear your head and protect your bankroll. Stopping for lunch or dinner may seem obvious, but the number of players who totally forget to eat when they’re gambling is amazing. Reasons to take breaks abound. Here are just a few:
Visiting the bathroom: Drink plenty of water, so you have to take frequent trips to the powder room. Those short walks stretch both your legs and your bankroll.
Scoring in the sports book: Place a few minimum-bet sports wagers over in the sports book. (See Chapter 15 for more about this intriguing part of the casino.) When it’s time to take a break from the tables, you can find a spot and watch the games you have a financial interest in.
Exercising: Even if it’s just a brisk walk around the casino floor, do something to get your circulation going. Even better is a real workout at the hotel gym.
Calling your loved ones: Sure, you’ve sent texts. You might have even posted some photos to your favorite social media app. But dialing the digits of a significant other, friend, or family member from time to time is a perfect way to take a break from the hurly-burly of a casino floor. A check-in call before all your chips are lost and won can also get you back in touch with the real world and remind you of why it’s important to stick to your budget. You can easily lose touch with reality while gambling, and a quick phone call can remind you of what’s important in life.
Win limits: Winning something is better than losing
Everyone wants to walk away a winner. Cashing out a winner is one of the greatest feelings in the world, and it’s the ultimate goal of everyone who gambles. But remember — one of the worst feelings is dumping all your winnings back when you’re up a lot and then losing for the day. So, quitting when you win a predetermined amount ensures that you have some winning days during your visit.
Some people set up target goals, such as quitting when they get ahead of their daily bankroll by 50 percent or 100 percent. If you wisely add your profits back into your bankroll (rather than spending them), you have a larger buffer to withstand future negative swings.
Looking at Casino Credit and Its Risks
Most people feel safer using credit cards rather than cash on vacation because, if stolen, credit is easier to replace than cash. But you have to turn that strategy on its head on gambling vacations. If you want to play it safe when gambling, always use cash instead of credit.
This section explains the downside of relying on casino credit. But there are also some advantages to going this route, so we’ll talk about how to set it up and when to use that credit in a positive way.
Grasping casino credit
To understand the lure — as well as the danger — of casino credit, you first need to understand it. Casino credit is no different from store credit, something most people take advantage of every day. To make shopping easier, many department stores offer customers a little plastic card with a line of credit. Similarly, the casino offers you a line of credit based on your credit report and the size of your bank account. This line of credit allows you to borrow money from the casino in order to gamble — either because your funds have run out or because you just prefer not to carry cash.
Credit is convenient, yes. But, it’s also a very risky venture. First, access to credit tends to make some people spend more money than they otherwise would — both in gambling and in the real world. But with casino credit, the problem is compounded. If you buy a $300 sander from the local home-improvement center on your credit card and your spouse promptly persuades you that you don’t need that item, you can usually return it and get your $300 back. But when you borrow $300 from your favorite casino and lose it at craps, it’s long gone. Even worse is when you lose that $300, followed quickly by $600 more, and return home with bigger debts than you can handle.
