St Columba’s Hospice Care is committed to ensure that information about how to gamble responsibly and how to access information and help in respect of problem gambling is readily available to all. Keeping Your Gambling Under Control: The majority of people do gamble responsibly and gambling in moderation is okay, but it may help you to keep your gambling under control by:

• Remembering that you are taking part for fun and not as a means of investing your money
• Setting strict limits on how much time and money you're going to spend, before playing
• Quitting while you're ahead
• Only gambling with money that you can afford to lose
• Not spending more money on gambling in the hope that you will win back any money that you've already lost
• Keeping up other interests and hobbies and not letting gambling take over your life
• Not gambling in order to escape from stress or boredom.

For some people however, gambling can become a problem. If you are concerned about the amount you are gambling and feel it is taking over your life, then asking yourself the following questions may help you assess whether or not gambling is becoming a problem:

• Have others ever criticised your gambling?
• Have you lied to cover up the amount you have gambled or the time you have spent doing it?
• Do arguments, frustrations or disappointments make you want to gamble?
• Do you gamble alone for long periods?
• Do you stay away from work or college to gamble?
• Do you gamble to escape from a boring or unhappy life?
• Are you reluctant to spend 'gambling money' on anything else?
• Have you lost interest in your family, friends or pastimes due to gambling?
• After losing, do you feel you must try to win back your losses as soon as possible?
• When gambling and you run out of money, do you feel lost, in despair and need to gamble again as soon as possible?
• Do you gamble until your last penny is gone?
• Have you lied, stolen or borrowed just to get money to gamble or to pay gambling debts?
• Do you feel depressed or even suicidal because of your gambling?

If 'yes' is the answer to some of these questions, then it is likely that a gambling problem exists. You may also wish to consider whether a friend or relative might have a gambling problem?

If you would like to be excluded from St. Columba’s Hospice Care Weekly Prize Draw, you can complete the online form or download a PDF form and return it as soon as possible to: Ross Robertson, St. Columba’s Hospice Care, 15 Boswall Road, Edinburgh. EH5 3RW