Limiting time, not only money

Hours spent is a better early indicator of a developing problem than money lost, and it moves first — often months before the financial picture changes.

Someone betting more frequently at smaller stakes shows nothing on a profit-and-loss chart and a great deal on a clock. The money can stay flat while the behaviour changes completely.

Time spent is also the cost that never shows up in any review, because nobody logs it and no operator reports it back.

What follows from that is less comfortable. Almost every self-assessment tool and every operator control asks about money, so the measure that moves first is the one nobody is watching.

What to do with it. Set a weekly time limit alongside the money one, and use a timer rather than an impression of how long it has been.