Why is Emotion Bad For Sports Betting (and YOU)?

Try Our Free Trial

Let’s be honest, if you’re reading this and you bet on sports or football betting in particular, you do it because you’re a fan and you love the sport for the most part.

When you’re a fan of something passionate like football, it creates a whole multitude of emotions: excitement, joy, disappointment, anger and many, many others in between.

You can even experience every single one of those in the course of a single match. Your team scores an early goal in the cup final, then your captain gets an unjustified red card which swings the balance of the tie, and the opposition pulls a goal back. Joy turns to anger which then turns to sadness. The narrative could go on, but as you see, being a die-hard fan watching a game like that could easily become an emotional roller coaster.

Having these emotions is perfectly normal and part of why we as fans love football so much, but when you bring serious betting into the equation it has the potential for bad news.

It’s an undeniable fact to Sports Bettors – EMOTION AND GAMBLING DON’T MIX

The best sports bettors who win money consistently, are stone-cold about it. A bet loses, “ah well”. A shrug of the shoulders and they move on to the next one.

How can these people that lose bets, be so calm and calculating about it? They have learned to switch off the emotional attachment to sports betting and see it as a financial transaction only. They win consistently by managing their emotions properly.

The betting industry knows exactly how to take advantage of sports fans who lack emotional control, tempting the sports bettor with lots of betting markets on their gambling site.

Fun Betting vs Serious Thoughts of Making Money

If you never intend to view sports betting as anything more than a bit of occasional fun with small stakes, then this article probably doesn’t matter too much to you.

But on the other hand, if you ever dream of making a 2nd or side income with betting, and you know that emotions can get the better of you at times, then this will be a very important read. Emotional control is the key to making real money as a sports bettor.

What are the Signs of Emotional Gambling Problems?

You Gamble When You Can’t Afford To

Maybe you are in financial hardship and you see gambling as a way out? You’re using real money that is meant for essential things like food, rent, other bills, clothing etc. Dreaming of that big win to improve your situation can have very damaging emotional effects.

If you’re waiting for that last goal to go in to win your bet, but you feel sick at the thought of it losing, you’re more than likely also betting more money than you should be, another warning sign.

You’re Gambling to Recover Money You Lost While Betting

Losing bets are part and parcel of gambling, but often people will have bet too much on a single bet assuming it was a banker, then panic when it loses. This is called “chasing” and is one of the worst emotional types of betting.

You no longer control your emotions, the level headed researched bets often go out the window at this point, along with sensible stakes, and it becomes a Win-At-All-Costs situation that often ends in that person losing more money.

Poor decisions become compounded which can become a vicious circle.

You’re Gambling to Escape Discomfort or Unhappiness in Day to Day Life

If you have problems or unhappiness in your life and see gambling as a way to escape from having to deal with issues or even use it as a way to get some kind of excitement back into your life, then this is a form of emotional gambling.

This will more than likely result in more problems down the road, as your head isn’t in the right place for sports betting. Again this may also be part of an escape plan… “maybe if I can win enough money I can have a different life”. Or maybe you are just chasing the buzz of winning money and beating the bookie.

You’re gambling while under the influence of Alcohol or Drugs

This may be a one-off (you’re out on the town with your friends drinking, and you decide to place a bet on your phone). In this circumstance, as one-off, it's not necessarily a problem, but sensible betting decisions rarely happen when you’re not sober.

Maybe you added a few too many selections to that acca, didn’t bother with research, or you’re following that hot bet tip from your drunk mate who isn’t in the most reliable state. It’s probably best to avoid mixing drinking and betting generally.

Some people may continually bet whilst being under the influence, which is a big no-no, as rational betting decisions go out of the window completely.

Turning to Drink or Drugs can also be a result of emotional gambling and bad choices.

You’re Being Secretive about your Gambling

You may have a very reasonable excuse that you are keeping gambling to yourself. Maybe you have very judgmental friends and family, and while it's your choice to bet, perhaps you just don’t want to hear their negative comments.

However, you may be hiding gambling because you are betting way too much, losing a lot of money or even gambling with money you shouldn’t be gambling with.

Except for the initial scenario, this kind of behaviour will likely involve emotional gambling, which is always a problem.

You Can’t Go a Day Without Gambling

Many successful Sports bettors will bet most days if there is a good selection of games available, but if you find you can’t stay away from the Bookie sites even on days with a poor selection, or very few games, it’s a sign that you have emotional betting issues.

Betting shouldn’t become a compulsive habit that you NEED to do. Betting for the sake of it will cause poor decision making and is a real sign that there are serious issues that need addressing (will likely include one or more of the previous topics).

Emotional Betting is a very broad subject and can range from very innocuous issues that can be corrected easily with a more methodical approach, right through to serious warning signs that there are big problems that need dealing with.

If you think you might have serious issues with Gambling, try to stop and seek help straight away. https://www.begambleaware.org/ - an excellent site with lots of help and support

Problem Gambling can lead you down all sorts of terrible paths if you don’t address it. Depression, shame, loneliness, alcohol or drug dependency and self-harm to name a few.

Keep it Fun and Keep it Sensible