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Gambling: They call it Lady Luck

Thanks to the Lotto and scratch cards and online casinos, more women than ever before are developing a gambling problem.

According to government figures, 60% of adults in the UK spend up to £50 per month gambling at the betting shop or on Lotto. As the result of changes coming shortly, the amount spent in this country per year is expected to go up from the current £42 billion to £60 billion.

30 million people regularly buy UK Lotto tickets in the second largest of the 192 lotteries across the world. And despite official figures telling us that a mere 1% of these have developed out of control gambling habits, Gamblers Anonymous are finding that they’ve had an increase of 17% in calls for help. GamCare has also seen an increase in requests for their counseling service.

Women have always dominated the Bingo scene, where they outnumber men, 70% to 30%. The average age is under 50 and the average spend for a night (including food and drinks) is £20.

Women tend not to visit casinos and betting shops, and favour on-line gambling instead where they have the perception of its being safer, less intimidating, more fun, more tempting and where they can remain anonymous.

As they are seduced by the escapism of on-line shopping, developing an internet gambling addiction, as they are encouraged by the on-line sites to create alternative realities: a different identity; and play along with the fantasy that it’s not real money they’re playing with.

There are something like 1700 gambling websites, including casinos, bingo halls, lotteries. Something to meet everyone’s tastes. And of course, they’re open 24 hours a day.

As says Lysette Offley of Sounds Positive in Henley on Thames, where hypnotherapy for gambling addiction is used: We’re fast approaching a time when the number of people in the UK with broadband access to the internet will overtake those still on dial-up, so access and availability to on-line gambling is increasing. Not surprisingly, problems are expected to increase.”

So what can a person do about it if they feel their habit’s getting out of control?

“Get help now. Don’t let it go on and on,” says Lysette. “There is plenty of professional help available and many ways to stop gambling. I see people regularly who are able to turn their lives around and with just a little help learn how to stop gambling. And of course there are self-help products too which can help enormously. Why would you play the victim of your habit when you really can do something about it?”

Sounds Positive specialises in fully downloadable self-help hypnotherapy products, incorporating other psychology techniques such as NLP and EFT. Stop Gambling is available from their website.

Paying the Taxman – Estimated Tax Payments For the Self Employed

If you’re self-employed or earn income that is not subject to tax withholding such as rents, prizes, awards, interest, or alimony, or if you don’t have enough tax withheld from your salary or pension, you will need to make estimated tax payments throughout the year or face a hefty penalty at tax time.Self-employed individuals will also need to pay an extra self-employment tax on top of their regular income taxes. Estimating your tax payments isn’t too complicated. The IRS has worksheets you can use to calculate your quarterly payments. In general, if you anticipate owing over $1000 after subtracting your credits and current withholding, you should pay estimated tax payments. This number is adjusted by the IRS periodically.Estimated tax payment requirements vary for individuals, sole proprietors, corporations, and farmers and fishermen. Check with the IRS for guidance.For the self-employed, use Form 1040-ES from the IRS to make your calculations. Use your previous year’s tax return as a guide. This will come in handy when doing rough calculations as far as your deductions, expected income, and so forth. Take into account any expected changes both in your own situation as well as tax laws.The worksheet includes a tax rate schedule that you will need to refer to once you’ve come up with a figure of taxable income. In addition, you will need to pay self-employment tax on top of the regular income tax. Pay attention to the instructions for calculating this tax as there are different rates once you pass a certain self-employment income threshold.In addition, only 92.35% of your self-employment income is currently subject to the tax so you will first need to multiply you self-employment income times.9235 to get the amount that is subject to the extra self-employment tax. For example, if you expect to earn $30,000 as a self-employed individual, $27,705 will be subject to the additional self-employment tax. At the current rate of 15.3%, the self-employment tax would be $4239. It’s important to realize that this is in addition to regular income tax.As you work through the worksheet, you will have your final figure representing your estimated taxes for the year. If you will owe over $1000, you will then divide that number by four. You will then be responsible for making four quarterly estimated tax payments for that amount according to a schedule set up by the IRS. Depending on the calendar, the payment due dates vary from year to year. However in general, the first payment is due in mid-April, the second is due in mid-June, the third is due in mid-September, and the final payment in due in mid-January of the following year. Payment vouchers are included on the 1040-ES worksheet.As the year progresses, your estimated income may fluctuate. You can use the worksheet to recalculate your estimated taxes and amend your remaining estimated payments. Doing this will ensure that you won’t be left owing more than you anticipated should you earn more money than you thought. It also ensures that you aren’t overpaying the taxes either.Because you will need to pay these taxes one way or the other, it makes sense to be aware of the taxes with every check you cash. Figure out what percentage of every dollar you earn needs to be put aside for taxes and sock that money away immediately into an account specifically designated for your taxes.

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More On Gambling Systems – System Black Box

In my last article, “Gambling Systems” I talked about gambling systems that involved the actual physical aspects of the games such as the white ball in roulette and the dice in craps. Now I will deal with betting systems that can actually be used in any of the games, except poker.

With the advent of on-line casinos, a whole new world opened up that allowed anyone, anywhere, to gamble. With this phenomena also came a flood of on-line gambling systems. One of these is the very popular, “System Black Box” that capitalizes on the fact that some on-line casinos will offer free gambling “chips” to anyone that signs up with their casino for play. “System Black Box” is designed strictly for on-line casino play. While there are live casinos that have similar offers for free play, it is most often a “match-play” situation in which you must use some of your own money along with the free-play coupon. In other words the coupon is worth $1 if you also play a real dollar with it. Should you win that first bet, you then immediately bet the $2 that you just won, putting the newly acquired house money in play and taking back your $1 original bet. (The $1 coupon is taken, win or lose. It is only good for one play.) If you are considering gambling on-line with any of the games offered, I would encourage you to look into “System Black Box” as a possible tool.

Another very popular betting system is “Betting For Profit” and is also available on-line. The difference is that “Betting For Profit” can work with both on-line play and live play. This system is a bit more in depth and involves an increasing bet according to the last play you made. It is a very good system and also includes what the author calls his “Seven Cardinal Rules Of Gambling.” In “Betting For Profit” you learn how to treat gambling as a business, not as a recreational activity. It is a very realistic approach and can work if you follow the guidelines that are set forth in the method, which is what “Betting For Profit” is actually called. Both “System Black Box” and “Betting For Profit” are what I would call methods as opposed to systems as they both do not deal with the physical aspects of the games and concentrate on betting strategies. I have found, through my extensive experience that betting methods and strategies are really the only valid ways of creating a winning trend in casino gambling. I compare this type of method with playing the stock market, which is of course, just another type of gambling. With the stock market, when someone can double their money, it is a significant gain. With casino gambling, if you want to be successful, you must enter in to that kind of mentality. In “Betting For Profit” the author tells of ways to begin to treat gambling as a business and not as entertainment. This is how a professional gambler approaches gambling. To me, it is akin to guerrilla warfare and in fact must be followed if you are serious about winning. A professional gambler sees gambling as “going to work” instead of entertainment. To gamble professionally you must lose the kind of attitude that puts you at a casino game for fun. That is not to say that you cannot enjoy what you are doing. But you must remember that you are there to make money, not lose it while you are playing and entertaining yourself.

I short, I find that both “System Black Box” and even more so, “Betting For Profit” can actually work for the gambler. With “System Black Box” the player need not know a great deal about the game he or she is playing but must at least know the general rules of whatever game that might be. “Betting For Profit” assumes that the reader is aware of at least some good basic strategy for the chosen game. So the conclusion is that a betting method or procedure can be a valid tool to enable a player to win at casino gambling while the “system” type of play simply does not work and is not really valid. Let me repeat here that when I was working in the casino business, we used to laugh at system players and considered them no threat, while the smart, tough player that knew how to manage his or her money and was able to walk away a winner would more times than not, take a small bite every time that he or she played, and sometimes even a big bite! For more information you can refer back to my previous article, “Gambling Systems”.