How to help a friend

Are your friends experiencing more yellow flags than you're comfortable with? Then think about the way you or your friends gamble. Here are some ideas to help you avoid yellow flags:

• Decide how much you're going to gamble during an outing before you leave home. When that money is gone, STOP. No trips to the ATM, no credit cards, and no borrowing from friends. It's over!
• If you win, STOP. You've had a rare occurrence. You've beaten the house and that only happens once in a blue moon.
• Don't try to win back losses. This may be the single biggest mistake people make when gambling. If you try to win back money you lost, the overwhelming odds are that you will lose more.
• Don't gamble if you are stressed out, depressed, or troubled in any way. Gamble for entertainment only, not to escape your problems.
• Set a time limit on your gambling and stick to it.
• Take regular breaks so you don't get too focused on gambling. It may help to go gambling with someone who finds it easy to call it quits.
• Remember that games of chance are just that: random chances with NO set pattern. That means there can't be "hot" and "cold" tables, VLTs or online poker games.
• All games of chance are designed to make money for the companies that create them. That's why they got into the business, and it's why they're still in business. Don't approach gambling as an opportunity to make money.
• Most importantly, make sure that gambling is not your only, or even your main, form of entertainment. If you're gambling every week, you are more likely to develop a problem.

In the long run, the more you gamble, the more money you will lose. End of story.