The Ultimate Guide to Smart Online Betting

When you place a bet online, you have no idea whether or not you’re going to win. Though, it would be nice to know that your money is safe and that you’re betting because you’re enjoying it.

There’s no way of guaranteeing victory when gambling online, but there are ways to guarantee that you’re playing safely and smartly. From comparing casinos to setting a budget, here’s the ultimate guide to smart online betting.

1. Check the UK Gambling Commission’s website 

There are many different places out there which offer casino games or betting games, but you can’t be sure that any of them are legitimate unless you check. The best place to do this is the UK Gambling Commission’s website. It has a full list of verified online and offline casinos.

If you find a website where you want to gamble or place a bet, look for a stamp from the UK Gambling Commission in the header or the footer of the website. A genuine stamp will be hyperlinked to the page on UK Gambling Commission’s website which lists that particular gambling or betting website. A website which fails this test should not receive a penny from you.

2. Make sure the website has an HTTPS domain 

Beyond finding a website accredited by the UK Gambling Commission, you also want to find a website which uses a secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS). You don’t necessarily need to understand what that means. Just know that a website which has HTTPS at the start of its web address is much more secure than a website which has HTTP at the start of its web address.
In layman’s terms, this is because it is much easier for a cybercriminal to discover what data is being sent to an HTTP website than an HTTPS one. When you’re using a website to read the news, the difference between HTTP or HTTPS won’t matter all that much. However, any website which you’ll be using to make a monetary transaction needs to be HTTPS for the sake of security.

3. Use trusted websites to find the best casinos online 

Your website might be secure, it might be accredited by the UK gambling commission, but is it actually any good? It’s great to know that two casinos are secure and safe, so now it’s time to compare casinos on matters of gameplay and experience. The problem is that finding the best odds for a betting website or the best experience for a live casino website can be tricky without actually spending any money.

This is where website reviews come in handy. There are plenty of great websites out there which will tell you the best live casinos online and the best bettings betting websites.  By reading reviews, you can get a better idea of what you might actually want from an online casino or betting website.

4. Set yourself a budget 

Gambling is an expense like anything else. So, set aside a certain amount of money and don’t spend more. This is what people do for any other activity they enjoy, and gambling should be no different. Even trips to Las Vegas require a strict gambling budget — the average one being around $600 according to the Las Vegas tourism board.

It’s perfectly possible to use gambling as a way to make a sports game more enjoyable, or it can be an activity you indulge in on the weekend. Though like every other indulgence, it needs to be controlled and it needs to be accounted for. What’s more, knowing exactly how much you’re spending can also make it easier to stop if it ever becomes a problem.

5. Enjoy yourself!

By far the most important thing to remember about gambling is that it’s supposed to be fun. If you’re raising an eyebrow at that statement, you probably shouldn’t be gambling. Whether or not you’re having a good time is by far the best indicator of whether or not you should be placing that next bet.

As G.K Chesterton once said, “Drink because you are happy, but never drink because you are miserable.” This same logic should also apply to gambling. So, when the fun stops, stop.