JILI77 Gambling Diary: Five Entries to Log After Every Session

A gambling diary is a five-line record of each session that lets you see your real spend instead of your remembered spend. It takes two minutes a session and it is the cheapest tool in the responsible betting set. Keep one for a month and you will know, in pesos and minutes, what play costs you.

Why a gambling diary beats memory

Memory keeps the wins and edits the losses. A diary keeps the figure. After four weeks it also gives you the one number most players have never seen: net spend for the month.

The peso figures above are an illustration of how a month can read, not anyone’s results. Your own lines will differ, and that is the point.

The five entries to log for each session

Keep the same five every time, so the lines can be added up.

1. Date and start time.
2. Money in: what you moved to the cashier.
3. Money out: what you ended with or withdrew.
4. Minutes played.
5. Mood before and the reason you stopped.

Entry five is the one that matters. Money and minutes tell you what happened; the mood and the stop reason tell you why, and why is where change comes from.

How to keep a gambling diary, step by step

1. Open a notes page or a notebook and put the month at the top. Keep it where you keep your phone charger.
2. Before you play, write the date, start time and the amount you will move in. That amount is your session budget.
3. When you stop, write the minutes and the balance you ended on. Result equals money out minus money in.
4. Write your mood before you began and the reason you stopped, in a few plain words.
5. At month end, total money in, money out, minutes and limit breaks, then compare net spend with your monthly amount.

Write step two before the lobby is open. A figure written first is a limit; a figure written after is a confession.

Gambling money management: what the totals tell you

Gambling money management starts with one comparison: net spend against the amount you decided you could lose. A worked month shows how.

If net spend is under your monthly amount, the plan is holding. If it is over, look at entry five to see which trigger caused the extra sessions, then tighten the win limit and loss limit rather than your resolve.