Playing at online casinos as a hobby is a great pastime, but playing as a pro is also an amazing experience. There are thousands of gamblers who have made it their main source of income and built a successful career in gambling. At the same time, it doesn’t work for everybody.
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We will take a close look at what you need to consider before diving into the world of professional gamblers.
1. Hourly Income
The first thing you need to decide is whether your gambling activity can become a viable replacement for your current income. For example, if you make $25 an hour and have a standard 40-hour work week, you earn $1,000 a week. In this scenario, you can potentially replace your income by gambling online full-time.
Here is what you should do next:
- Pick an activity that offers adequate chances of winning;
- Build up a bankroll that supports the level of play needed;
- Dedicate enough time each week to play.
The most common gambling games with good enough stakes are blackjack, poker, and sports betting. Let’s focus on blackjack and the profits this game can potentially generate.
If you play blackjack, we recommend using the card counting strategy to reduce the house edge to around 1%. Depending on how efficiently you play, the number of hours to make that $1,000 a week will vary. As you play at an online casino and get real experience, it will get easier to sustain this volume of playing.
2. Benefits and Health Care Costs
If your current job covers your medical expenses, you’ll need to sort out your health insurance on your own. A career in gambling games isn’t prone to injuries, but you can’t assume that gamblers can avoid medical expenses. Even a single uninsured trip to the emergency room can change your financial life. Therefore, budget extra money for health care coverage.
Remember that by giving up your day job, you also give up several other perks, such as paid vacations, sick days, worker’s compensation, etc. The only time you make money as a gambler is when you actually play. To protect yourself from unforeseen circumstances, you need to have enough money saved to cover any downtime.
3. The Worst-Case Scenario
Lastly, we want to warn you that winning enough on a consistent basis is never guaranteed. The worst-case scenario when gambling online is not earning enough money and losing all of your bankroll. Sadly, many people had to deal with the worst-case scenario.
Allocate at least an extra $2,000 a month beyond your normal expenses. But to be extra secure in your finances, have about 6-12 months’ worth of living expenses before you gamble professionally. This estimate takes into account that you may need to quit gambling. Finding a new job will not be an instant process.
Also, don’t be tempted to tap into your savings if you have a losing streak. If you treat your savings as a supplement for your bankroll, it won’t take long until you go looking for a regular job.
Tips for Building a Gambling Career
People who try becoming a professional casino player quickly tend to make the same mistakes. To avoid repeating unsuccessful gambling stories, here are some effective tips:
- Learn all the rules and play fairly. Knowing the rules is essential, and you need to be very well-versed in them. Anticipate your moves step by step, know how to behave, and understand when to place a bet. Additionally, you need to build your career in gambling without resorting to cheating.
- Manage your bankroll well. Play within the limit of your bankroll and avoid making unreasonable bets. To ensure good fund management, you can also choose to play in casinos that offer bonuses or those that reimburse your bets in some way.
- Don’t rely on beginners’ luck. Sometimes beginner’s luck can win you a multi-million-dollar prize. But there is a risk that you’ll continue betting while hoping to get the same success over and over again. Remember that you can’t make money gambling from beginners’ luck alone. Try taking a step back if you have a winning streak.
- Don’t compare yourself to others. One of the mental tools you will have to exercise the most is confidence, especially at the start of your career as a professional player. If you compare yourself to Phil Ivey because you have not yet won a World Series poker bracelet, you will be wasting your time. Instead, focus on your own talent, potential, and gambling skills.
- Know when to stop playing. Being a professional player requires you to know your personal strengths and weaknesses. Even if you have everything needed to be successful, it can lead nowhere if you’re driven by emotion rather than reason. So, recognize when it is time to stop the game.
Conclusion
Perhaps not everyone is destined to become the God of gambling. But we want you to remember that you must first and foremost be entertained by the game. There is no point in constantly stressing out about winning or losing. Plus, it can even have a detrimental effect on your career.
Assess all the pros and cons of gambling jobs before giving up other sources of income. It’s a risky decision, and you need to have a full understanding of possible outcomes. But if you decide to take on this venture, you need to be serious about your goal and show patience and perseverance.
Regardless of whether you’re planning to do it professionally or for yourself, play the best online casino games at Bob Casino. We offer nothing but the best slot machines in our game lobby, accompanied by the top games in the gambling industry. Come and select your favorite slot, blackjack, or roulette game, or anything else that catches your attention.