Although the country is in serious financial gloom, the amount of gambling sites seems to have doubled in the past year alone. It would seem that although many people still have trouble paying the bills every month, they still have money to gamble.

Why do people gamble?

Gambling is highly addictive and the adrenaline rush you get before finding out if you have won the top prize is exhilarating. With so many websites offering up to £10 free to open an account and start playing with, it’s easy to see how they are pulling more and more people in. When the free money that they give you to start gambling finishes, you’re already hooked so you need to add more funds to continue playing. Many people who gamble do not realise just how much money they are wasting every day and it’s only when they get their bank statement that reality hits.

Is gambling legal?

When entering or signing up to online gambling sites, you are asked to tick the terms and conditions policy that also indicates you are over 18 (as in the UK 18 is the legal age to gamble) but in other countries gambling in a casino is legal only if you are over 21. Some online gambling sites also set a limit – for example you’re only allowed to spend X amount of money a day or participate in X games.

How to stop gambling?

First of all you need to admit you have a problem and once you accept this, then you can come to terms with what treatments are available to you. Group therapy usually works and you have a session once a week where a group of people discuss why they gamble and what they find stops them from having the urge to gamble. In most cases, you only need to find yourself a hobby to keep you occupied so how about taking up fishing, dancing or going to the gym to keep yourself active. If you don’t have much self control, then as a last resort you can contact your GP and they will be able to help you. Here are a few things you can do as well:

• If you gamble online, change security settings to stop you from going onto gambling sites
• If you are addicted to betting on horses or football, try avoiding routes where you know you will pass a betting shop
• If you struggle from stopping yourself from buying excessive lottery tickets, then ask a friend or family to do it for you

Online gambling can put you in serious financial problems. Therefore you need to be careful and not chase money as greed will eventually turn into addiction.

With so many advertisements on television trying to cash in on gold, everyones wonders if it’s all worth it. Having studied this year’s data (2009), there is a big difference in how much gold cost the year before; the rate for selling gold changes daily so if you have decided to cash in on the unwanted gold, you have to keep an eye on the selling price daily.

What is cash for gold?
Cash for gold are companies which want to cash in on the dwindling financial market by selling scrap gold for cash. In recent years the price for gold has risen with many people looking to invest into it as the value for gold rarely hits rock bottom. Many companies claim to have their own refineries, therefore getting you the best deal possible. A lot of the companies that are advertising on TV send you an envelope where you fill it with your gold and they evaluate and send you the money. You can easily calculate the value of gold but remember the better the quality and carats the higher the value. There have been many cash for gold trading counters set up in shopping centres nationwide, the advantage of these are they can tell you on the spot how much your gold is worth and you can either accept or think about it.

Is cash for gold worth it?
With so many cash for gold companies out there, it’s very hard to distinguish which ones are legit; if you read all the terms carefully you might find that it isn’t as good a deal you may think it is. Cash for gold companies only want to pay the minimum so they can make a profit on the gold you send in. If you go direct to the refinery, you’ll get a much better deal but if you can’t, you’ll get a much better deal at your local pawn shop.

With cash for gold adverts dominating advertisements on TV, what most people know as common sense may not be for everyone else. After extensive research, there seem to be a lot of unhappy cash for gold customers. Here is a list of the most common cash for gold scams.

• When you fill up the bag that is sent to you to send your gold jewellery in, the insurance of the contents is usually not very high; in most cases if the bag is lost you won’t get more than £10
• The bag that is sent for the gold is first class but the company say it takes up to 10 working days for them to receive it
• Testing the value of gold sent in is not done by highly trained professionals or by using state of the art equipment. The gold is simply weighed and checked under a magnifying glass, carats of the gold is determined by dipping in fluid
• Checks are usually issued within 24 hours of inspection of the jewellery but in some cases these aren’t sent out until 3-4 days, customers are advised to check the date of the check against the postal date in the envelope
• All the companies say that they offer 100% satisfaction guaranteed but what they don’t say is that if you do not accept the offer of the gold value, you have to decline within 10 days of when the check is dated
• All cash for gold companies say you can get the money within 24 hours but what they don’t tell you is if you opt for this (fast cash) then you waive your rights to have your jewellery returned even if you do not agree on the evaluation for the cash
• The lowest cheque ever received by a customer was 0.01p
• Cash for gold customers are always given the worst deal for their jewellery; the ones that dispute this can get their valuation tripled – if they accept, some of the money goes to the customer service rep as a bonus
• If you accept the offer the customer service rep will say that you are now legally binded and that the conversation has been recorded when in fact they have run out of tape
• If you decline the offer then you may have to wait up to a month before the jewellery is sent back
• If the jewellery that was sent in for valuation turns out to have no value, you will have to pay up to £15 to have the items returned back to you

All of the above can be avoided if you read the terms and conditions. By doing so you will save yourself money and future hassle.