Application of Money Mindfulness in Online Casino Gambling

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Utilizing mindfulness to responsibly manage a casino gambling bankroll.

Throughout history, parents have been tasked with teaching their maturing children how to set and maintain a budget. Knowing what they have to spend, then assigning the proper amounts for bills and necessities, gives them an idea of what they have left over; the excess that serves as their miscellaneous and entertainment dollars.

Today, no one likes to hear the term “budget”. That word, to most young adults, is a bad word that loosely translates to “going without”. That’s never what it was meant to be. In fact, the whole purpose of budgeting is to segregate funds carefully so that one doesn’t have to go without. But regardless, the Millennial generation now has its own word for it. They prefer the new-age clinical term, “money mindfulness”.

Personally, I don’t care what you call it, so long as you’re practicing it. Being mindful of the money you have, and being able to make it last, with all bills paid, until the next pay day comes along, is the goal. And as successful as money mindfulness has been in teaching today’s latest generation of bill-payers to get the job done right, I do believe the same concept can be applied to cultivating responsibility in live and online casino gambling.

Applying Mindfulness to a Casino Gambling Bankroll

It is no secret that some people tend to lose sight of their finances when gambling at a casino. It’s so common that society has labels for these people. We call them ‘gambling addicts‘, ‘compulsive gamblers‘ or ‘problem gamblers‘. Once a person reaches this stage, they are considered unmitigable without extensive, long-term care.

I believe that teaching young gamblers about money mindfulness is not only a perfect preventative measure, but can also be effective in treating mild to moderate cases of compulsive gambling. You see, money mindfulness isn’t just about being mindful of your money. It’s about knowing how much one can safely spend, and meditating on the desire to properly manage that spending. It’s about training your brain to know when to stop, and to set off a mental alarm when that amount is reached; an alarm that’s so ingrained in the psyche, its toll supersedes any other compulsory brain functions.

Why Does Money Mindfulness Work?

Multiple scientific studies have documented the positive relationship between mindfulness and psychological health. The purpose of mindfulness and meditation, in any capacity or application, can be narrowed down to a single objective—to achieve freedom from mental anguish. Spending more than one can afford will certainly cause some mental anguish. Over-spending to a gross proportion, as problem gamblers often do, can result a complete mental breakdown.

Applying money mindfulness to a live or online casino gambling experience can be as simple as closing one’s eyes and taking a deep breath each time the stress of a loss or diminishing bankroll comes into play.

Being mindful helps players to recognize these moments, while that brief moment of meditation helps the moment to pass without resulting in a financially harmful decision. It can be the difference between walking out the door, or walking to the ATM machine; between closing an online casino app, or making another deposit.

Proven Applications of Money Mindfulness

Money mindfulness isn’t just a proven application for responsibly managing a casino gambling bankroll. It’s already helping countless people—especially younger generations—counter the effects of another syndrome. This one also goes by new-age clinical term, FOMO, an acronym for the “fear of missing out”.

Often propagated by social media, FOMO occurs when one sees what another has or does, and feels they must have or do it too; that they might otherwise miss out on some satisfying event. It can include things like purchasing a material object, going out to eat, to a club, or to see a movie.

Some of you older readers out there may recognize FOMO under another name, popularized prior to the advent of internet and social media. We called it “Keeping up with the Joneses”. Whatever you call it, suffers of this stressful disorder will find that it can debilitate their finances.

Clinical studies have shown success in treating FOMO with money mindfulness. Researchers have also seen success, albeit limited, in preventing/treating problem gambling through educating players as to their true odds of winning. I’d like to see a new study combines the two, harnessing the knowledge of odds, with the power of mindfulness and meditation.