FOMO stands for “Fear Of Missing Out” and is defined as “the miserable feeling that you are missing something out”. Apart from making the life of many people uneasy, this fear takes a toll on serious mistakes. That is even more true when we talk about betting.
There are two types of bettors: the ones who beg for entertainment and the ones who bet for profit. The latter is trying to turn betting into a source of income and does not understand how many problems they will face.
In this article, we will share some tips on how to deal with one of these problems and get over FOMO syndrome in betting.
What is FOMO?
In sports betting, the phenomenon of FOMO usually relates to the bettor’s regret that they didn’t make a particular bet, which was subsequently calculated as winning. For instance, you would have earned a lot of profit if you had decided to bet on the victory of the hometown Steelers in their matchup with the Buccaneers during the sixth week of NFL. At GGBet, Steelers came as +334 underdogs and eventually managed to make a great Cinderella’s run.
In general, the FOMO situation occurs in two cases:
- During analysis, a bettor had found a match where they could place a promising bet, but for various psychological reasons did not have time to do it. As a result, the wager won, but the bettor did not make any profit.
- A bettor looks through the results of the matches played and realizes that if they had bet on a winning option, they would have earned some profit.
From the above, the problem of lost profits begins to put psychological pressure on the player. The anxiety caused by understanding that we are doing worse than we could, drives us to work harder, earn faster, and compensate for losses. This, in turn, could easily lead to further errors and loss of money.
Basic Symptoms
To break this problem, it will be helpful to identify your FOMO pattern. In that sense, chances are you are a FOMO bettor if you often tell yourself the following things:
- So many people are betting on this match and they can’t all be wrong.
- It would be silly not to try or let’s see how much profit I could make.
- I should have guessed they would win the match.
- If the undergod will win, I will never forgive myself for missing this opportunity.
- There bettors who place bets on the match, they must know something I don’t.
As you can see, FOMO bettors tend to make decisions by constantly following the crowd and basic instinct. That’s why the described fear syndrome often relates to beginners. In most cases, pro bettors know how to deal with these patterns of betting. Let’s take a closer look at some tips that might help you keep your money and mental health safe.
How to Get Over It?
Below are four tips that might help you overcome FOMO in betting and investing.
Tip 1: Create a Strategy
One of the effective ways to get rid of FOMO is to create a strategy for betting. In the beginning, you can start focusing on one team and simple bet types only to study teams’ trends. This way, you will be able to spot something before bookmakers can change lines. Once you learn good fundamentals you can take on more complicated strategies.
Tip 2: Manage your Betting Bankroll
Good bankroll management will protect you from the inexorable loss streaks that come with any kind of gambling from time to time. On average, pro bettors place a single size wager between 1% and 2% of their total bank. So, this concept is not just about the squads or leagues you wager on but the amount and frequency of your bets as well.
Tip 3: See Stats to Get Long-Term Picture
This will help you find working theories of the game that help you make money at a distance. Any experienced user is confident in their strategy and understands that it will bring them a profit over a long distance. Thus, the negative results often happens when using a week-long gaming strategy. Chances are the strategy will become a plus and increase your bank at the end of the month/quarter/year.
Tip 4: Analyze the FOMO Mistakes
Every FOMO bettor has a history of failures they prefer to ignore. We recommend you recap your history to understand that FOMO is responsible for losing a lot of money as well. As with any deeply-rooted fear, it makes us think fast and without great analysis.
FOMO in Betting: Final Word
If you want to make good money with betting, you need to become a professional and know how to deal with a number of psychological problems on your way. This is a difficult but doable process.
To get over FOMO, we recommend you acquire a strong knowledge of the betting market and pay attention to long-term strategies. Last but not least, be aware of how your basic instincts may let you down when it comes to impulsive things.
