911 Essay

911 Essay

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4 unmissable cultural highlights in London this February

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Visiting London in February? Then it’s time to plan your itinerary for this romantic month! With Valentine’s Day and the February half-term thrown into the mix, the capital has an abundance of options available.

But with so much going on, it can be hard to narrow down what activities you want to complete during your trip. Luckily, this guide provides you with the unmissable highlights for the month of February!

London Fashion Week

Whether you’re a fashionista or not, London Fashion Week is a must see event in February. This iconic, global fashion event returns on Friday 14th February and runs until Tuesday 18th, showcasing over 250 designers and their Autumn/Winter 2020 collections.

From the #PositiveFashion Designer Exhibition to city-wide celebrations, London Fashion Week has it all going on. With a focus on “Positive Fashion” the event looks to educate attendees on the sustainability within the fashion world. Public-facing shows are also set to return, so you can immerse yourself in the world of fashion and go behind-the-scenes to discover the hottest trends for next season and up-and-coming designers from around the world.

Kew Gardens Orchid Festival

Kew Garden’s annual Orchid Festival returns for its 25th year in February, celebrating the incredible wildlife and culture of Indonesia. The festival begins on Saturday 8th February and runs through until Sunday 8th March and is a must see if you’re travelling to London!

Visitors will find themselves transported to a botanical paradise that evokes the sights, smells and sounds of Indonesia. Fans of all things botanical can expect to see life-sized animals decorated with tropical flowers, an erupting volcano created from orchids, as well as traditional Indonesian music, dance and live cooking demos!The Orchid Festival is a must for anyone looking to discover new cultures and learn everything there is to know about Indonesia.

Imagine Children’s Festival

If you’re visiting London on a family trip, then why not take the kids to their very own festival? Southbank Centre’s Imagine Children’s Festival returns with a heap of fun activities, events and entertainment for the little ones.

For any kids under 11 with a passion for creative writing or stories, this event is the perfect way to keep them entertained. The kids can explore creative stories, music performances, comedy and parties from the 12th February to 23rd February. The Imagine Children’s Festival is set to be a fantastic event for families!

Romantic river cruises

For any lovers visiting the capital over Valentine’s Day, why not take a romantic river cruise whilst you learn about the history of London and see some of its most famous sites? From Big Ben, Tower Bridge, The London Eye and more, river cruises offer a picturesque way to see the city of London.

Make your romantic trip even more special by staying at Dorsett Hotel, City of London. Only a short distance from Tower Pier, this hotel is ideally located for you to enjoy a river cruise and see what London has to offer from the water. There are plenty of restaurants and bars to explore nearby the hotel and, being a short distance from Shoreditch, you can explore this vibrant borough too.

 

What are the different ad extensions for Google Ads

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Google Ads is the paid advertising service offered by the search engine giant Google. Paid search digital marketing or pay-per-click as its widely known, offers advertisers the opportunity to advertise with a search engine so that their business appears on their search engine results pages.

Basically, Google Ads is Googles paid advertising service whereby your business pays to show up on the search engine results pages (SERPS). When done correctly, this service is quite straight forward, cost-effective and can yield impressive results. There are many benefits of incorporating Google Ads in your digital marketing strategy.

Using ad extensions in your Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is a great way to improve and capitalise on your pay-per-click conversion rates with Google Ads. You can boost your qualified clicks by attaching ad extensions to all of your Google Ads campaigns.

To get the most out of your pay-per-click advertising strategy it’s highly beneficial to complete an accredited digital marketing course or a paid marketing course so you fully understand this popular online advertising platform.

Why use ad extensions for Google Ads?

Using the built-in ad extensions for your Google Ads is a great way to increase traffic to your website and will help your business generate more leads – and they don’t cost extra. Almost every advertiser on Google Ads has experienced logging into your Google Ads account with the high hope of seeing a large number of clicks only to be sorely disappointed.

Many advertisers experience the same thing, but how do you increase the performance of your Google Ads? So, if this has happened to you remember – you’re not alone. Online advertising is an extremely competitive field. The good news is that you can dramatically increase the performance of your ads by using ad extensions. Think of an ad extension as a helpful way to improve your text ads with Google Ads.

By using extensions in your ads, you are able to maximise your digital marketing budget which boosts your click-through rates. More clicks through to your website means higher traffic volumes and every digital marketer’s main goal is to boost their click-through rate. With ad extensions added to your Google Ads search strategy, you can add special discounts and offers, additional links to your website and other information to draw in visitors to your site to increase your click-through rates.

Types of Google Ads extensions

Fortunately, Google offers advertisers a wide variety of ad extensions which really do help increase your ad rank and ultimately your click-through rate. In fact, keep in mind that its key to make use of the many different types of extensions in your Google Ads search strategy because some ad extensions perform better through different devices, such as desktop versus mobile, which includes tablets and smartphones. It’s really helpful to get a thorough understanding of the ad extensions that’s best suited to certain devices to help you get the most of incorporating extensions in your Google Ads.

Here are a few of the most popular ad extensions for Google Ads:

  • Location extensions – A location extension is clickable and should be linked to a relevant landing page. This extension is listed on a separate line, thereby increasing the size of your ad, drawing more attention.
  • Call extensions – By including a telephone or mobile number in your ad you’re effectively making it easier for people to contact you.
  • Link extensions – These extensions are clickable and should be linked to relevant landing pages on your website. Enabling site links on your Google Ads increases click-through rates.
  • Promotion extensions – A promotion extension is great to highlight sales, discounts or promotions.
  • App extensions – This type of extension only appears if the user is using a mobile device and the app link is placed below the ad itself.
  • Price extensions – This is a great way to showcase your products and pricing. This extension appears below your text ad and is viewable via a pc or mobile device.
  • Automated extensions – This is a really handy feature with Google Ads. Google automatically adds an automated extension to improve your ads performance.
  • Seller rating extensions – A seller rating extension is also automated. Google gathers ratings from reputable sources and displays them below your text ads.

What are the principles of Pilates?

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There are many benefits that you will experience from doing Pilates. This is because Pilates is responsible for developing every aspect of fitness such as strength, flexibility, coordination and control. However, if you really do want to reap all of the benefits that Pilates has to offer, there are a number of principles according to which you need to structure your practice.

Concentration

As Pilates is a mind-body exercise, it cannot be performed half-heartedly. Pilates calls for full attention to, and awareness of the entire body. It is this principle that can make a basic exercise challenging and effective for even an advanced student.

Control

Control is probably the fundamental principle of Pilates. This is seen by the fact that Joseph Pilates originally called this exercise form “Contrology”.

When practising Pilates, it is important that each movement of the body is made in a slow, controlled manner as opposed to merely swinging your body parts into position. This is because by using controlled movements, various muscles are required to work together and help the body to develop greater coordination as well as balance.

Control also prevents injury and assists the practitioner to realise the full functional benefits of that are gathered from each movement.

Centring

The action involved physically bringing the focus to the centre of the body, in other words the powerhouse area between the lower ribs as well as the pubic bone.

Breathing

Breathing in (inhaling) to prepare for the movement. Breathing out (exhaling) and moving on the effort which connects the pelvic floor with the abdominal muscles. In a lot of cases, the effort will be on the concentric (positive) phase of the exercise. Although, in some cases, the effort may be on the eccentric (negative) phase of the exercise.

It is highly advisable participants do not hold their breath while exercising. Precision during breathing should be taking during the eccentric phase of the exercise so that the abdominals are engaged properly and that placement of the rib cage is not compromised.

Flowing movement

Pilates exercises are all done in a flowing manner. Fluidity, grace and ease are goals which apply to all exercises. The energy of a movement connects all body parts and flow through the body in an even manner. Pilates equipment, like the reformer, are exceptionally good reflections of one’s flow and concentration as these are likely to bang around and suddenly become quite ‘machine-like’ if one loses control and flow.

Postural alignment

Having an aligned posture is essential if all Pilates exercises are to be carried out correctly.

Ribcage placement

The rib case position affects the alignment of the upper back. When lying on your back (or supine) in a neutral position maintain the sense of the weight of your ribs resting gently on the mat, in other words maintain the normal curve of your upper back.

Do not push off, or push your ribcage into, the mat. Pay specific attention to the placement of your ribcage when you are inhaling or while you are performing arm movements overhead.

Scapula stability

Stabilising your shoulder blades on the posterior part of your rib cage is an important as contracting your abs during the initiation of very exercise. This will help you to avoid straining your neck and upper shoulders.

To achieve proper placement, a sense of width should be maintained across the front and back of the shoulders. Make sure that you neither allow your shoulders to round forward too much nor squeeze towards the spine.

Your shoulders ought not to be lifted too far off the mat or be over-depressed. Shoulder placement should be somewhere between these two positions as well as in neutral. The shoulder blades have a wide range of motion so remember to maintain stability.

Pilates consists of movement through a slow, sustained series of exercises by making use of abdominal control as well as proper breathing. The quality of each posture is more important as opposed to the number of repetitions or how energetically you can perform the movements. Books and videotapes on Pilates are available, but look for a qualified Pilates teacher or Pilates-trained Personal Trainer to get the best results.

 

Branding: why typography is just as essential as imagery

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When was the last time you saw a marketing post on social media that didn’t feature an image? It’s so prominent now that we expect it – the text, a little information, and an image. And overall, it is the image that we remember most clearly, and that’s why a promotional social media post now looks a little strange without one.

But, it’s also why we can instantly translate the famous ‘M’ into McDonalds, a red-white-and-blue striped sphere into Pepsi, and a three-leafed, stripy flower symbol into Adidas.

Overall, 90% of the information we process is entirely visual, and we actually process images 60,000x faster than we do text. Although we might not necessarily think of it in these statistical terms, we’re all aware of it – which is why typography often gets overlooked when branding or re-branding a business.

Imagine if typography wasn’t important

A good place to start when trying to, excuse the slight pun, visualise the importance of typography, is to envisage a world where it wasn’t important. Going back to the above for a moment, imagine seeing Coca Cola suddenly written in something like Comic Sans, amazon.com written entirely in capital letters, or Tesco suddenly adopting a completely black typeface – your relationship with the brand would be changed instantaneously.

If typography wasn’t important, none of this would matter. Plus, when Marathon originally changed to Snickers, Opal Fruits transformed into Starburst, and Jif became Cif, the typography would have changed – not just the name of the brand. Even in complete re-brands of products then, the businesses behind them don’t want you to change how you feel the moment you see that brand in the market. But why?

Typography alone can influence mood

Another reason typography is often overlooked is because we’re simply more aware of our emotions when we react to an image. Whether it’s a photograph of a homeless person, on the flyer of a dedicated charity, or a group of people enjoying a beer at the beach, for something like a holiday or drinks company, we react emotionally to the image completely naturally.

However, if you were to then add a humorous typeface to the first image, or a sinister font to the fun photograph, the entire mood of the advertisement changes. Before we know it, we see it in an entire new light, perhaps don’t even trust it, and will either forget about it – or not remember it particularly fondly.

Typography defines brands

Essentially, this is why typography is such a fundamental. While people outside of the design world don’t necessarily recognised fonts as ‘Times’, ‘Arial, ‘Calibri’, etc., they do quickly learn to associate brands, products and services with specific fonts. So, if you’re headed into a re-brand, or defining your brand identity for the first time, do put some serious time into choosing the right typography.

From here, ensure that all digital images adorned with any form of text, and any print materials you distribute, are both consistently branded with the right images and typography for your business. By also giving your promotional materials a professional touch, with exceptional quality printing from products by Duplo International, you can be sure that your brand reflects its unique personality in imagery, typography, and quality.

 

Tips on How to Stop Accumulating Things You No Longer Need

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As you try to look around your house, you realize that you already have tons of things no longer used. You failed to throw some of them away and they started to pile up. Eventually, you couldn’t move around freely anymore. There are things blocking you at every turn. These are some tips for you to stop accumulating garbage at home.

Determine the things you need

The reason why you have a lot of unnecessary things at home is that you keep buying things you don’t need. Learn how to create a list of things that are important to you, and use them within a given time. If unnecessary for now, you can suspend the purchase. Reconsider it later when you think you need it.

Avoid buying items in bulk

Yes, you will save a lot of money when buying in bulk, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it. The problem with bulk purchase is that you end up spending on things you don’t need. Some of them have expiration dates. Upon reaching those dates, you have no choice but to throw the items away. Therefore, only buy what you need at any given time.

Partner with a junk removal company

You need someone picking up the trash regularly so you can easily clean up your house and organize your space. You need a junk hauling company to collect trash. Don’t worry about the useful items since they will find a way to allow others to maximize their use. Recycling and other environmental advocacies are a part of these junk removal companies.

Don’t be too sentimental

There are things at home that you don’t need, but you keep because of their sentimental value. The problem is that you eventually consider all things that way. Therefore, letting go becomes too difficult for you. Learn not to be emotionally attached to things and connect with the people who gave those things instead. You may also take a picture of those items before throwing them away.

Deal with your hoarding problem

Perhaps, you have a bigger psychological problem – hoarding. It’s your inability to let go of things for whatever reason. It might seem like you’re only collecting things, but the truth is that you have underlying mental health problems. You can ask for help from a counselor to help you deal with these issues. Once you have sorted out the problem, it will be easier for you to let go of things.

You need to be comfortable in your house, and it won’t happen if it’s too messy. You need to take some of these things away and start over again. You will then realize that your house is spacious, and there are lots of decoration ideas that you can do. Seek help whenever necessary, so this problem won’t happen again. Once you realize that you have started going back to your old ways, you have to remember these tips and maintain the cleanliness of your place.

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/UTT39aMPxwg

 

How to Keep Yourself Entertained While Traveling

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While traveling is an adventure that will provide you with countless memories there are times when you’re traveling, that you’ll be forced to kill time. As an example, you may get bored when you’re waiting for a tour bus to pick you up from your hotel or when your international flight is delayed by several hours. If you’re looking for fun activities to keep you entertained when you’re traveling, simply continue reading!

How to Keep Yourself Entertained While Traveling:

#1 Playing slots

If you’re stuck in an airport departure lounge and need to entertain yourself, it’s well worth pulling out your smart phone and playing Mega888 online slots. As slots is an easy game to play, that will help you quickly pass time, that doesn’t require too much concentration. If you chose to play slots you won’t have to worry about picking up difficult game mechanics and will be able to start playing fun slot games straight away.

Another reason why it’s well worth playing SCR888 when you’re traveling is that you’ll be able to pause your game whenever you need. So if your train, bus or plane arrives, you’ll be able to put your game on hold for a couple of minutes. Without risking losing your game. As you can take short breaks between your spins.

#2 Sending photos from your trips to your friends and family members back home

Even if you travel on a frequent basis, you may feel a little home sick from time to time. So it’s a great idea to keep in communication with your friends and family members back home by sending them regular photo updates. As an example, you may want to send your parents and your close friends daily instant messages which show your loved ones the exciting adventures you’ve been on. It’s well worth taking a few minutes out of busy days in order to message your loved ones as seeing their responses and kind words will remind you of just how important you are to them.

#3 Attend a local language class

It’s well worth signing up for a local language class, where you’ll get to practice basic language skills which will allow you to strike up conversations with the locals who you meet along your journey. As an added bonus, you’ll also get to meet other travellers from around the world. Some of whom may have handy travel tips about the destination which you’re exploring, to share with you. As an example, you may make a friend who’ll tell you about a local restaurant which serves authentic regional cuisine or you may make a friend who may tell you about a hidden beach that’s well worth visiting on your trip.

#4 Purchase tickets to a local sports game

Why not cheer on a local sports team in a professional tournament? As attending a local sports game such as a soccer game in Brazil, will be a memorable experience that you’ll never forget.

Hopefully you use all four of the travel tips listed above to help keep yourself occupied when you’re traveling abroad and need to kill a bit of time. Whether you’re playing Mega888 or sending photos to family, all activities listed above will definitely keep you entertained.

 

How to Stand Out from Your Competitors in Business

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There are 627,000 businesses formed in the US every year, and most of these are in a small handful of key sectors. So, when starting a business, not only do you have the economy, the customer, and your unique offering to contend with, but you also have several competitors. Standing out with what you can offer using your personality and the basis of your brand could help you not only beat your competitors but solidify your unique product proposition, while also attracting a loyal set of customers. But, how can your business stand out from the crowd in an increasingly saturated market?

Keep Your Business in Check

One of the most upsetting things for businesses is when everything is going swimmingly, and they suddenly begin to unravel because things weren’t done by the book. This could be in relation to social media, where you are investigated for improper data usage on platforms like Facebook, or it could be as simple as not adhering to policies you have said you would, such as environmental ones or transparency around finances.

One of the main ways you can protect yourself and make sure that you stand out through this transparency is through the proper insurances. As online business insurance quotes suggest, this can range from general liability insurance to insurance specifically for professional errors or omissions and even automobile insurance for any cars that your employees might drive. Being fully insured tells customers that if there was an issue, everyone would be protected in order to solve it quickly and efficiently. You can take this further and ensure you are fully accredited in anything to help give you further expertise to help you stand out. This can act as a trust signal to customers about the quality of company you are.

Be Bold

Standing out as a business can mean so many different things, but the businesses that attract our attention the most are the ones who are bold in how they let us know they are there. For instance, Imperfect Foods stands out because they offer the same food at a lower cost just because the products are shaped imperfectly, while the company also makes significant environmental pledges. College Hunks Hauling Junk became immediately recognized as a removal company and one whose playful and obvious messaging sticks in the brain.

Nordstrom, meanwhile, has become a force for good customer service, which helps it stand out through the often over-the-top ways it treats customers. Another such example is Dental Bliss, which changed a standard dentist business into one that resembled a spa, which helped customers place it higher up than a regular dentist and also helped remove some of the unpleasantness of going to the dentist.

Standing out as a business not only gives you freedom to further innovate, but also allows you to attract customers in a more natural way. You can do this in two simultaneous ways. Firstly, ensure that your business is in check and known for its trust signals, such as full insurance and any other licenses it may need. But you also need to be bold and show that you are more than just a company that will stand in line with your competitors – you need to show that you can stand out.

 

Online UK Slots vs Offline Market

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Online gambling has taken the world by storm; it has become the best way to play games of chance from the comfort of your own home. According to a census taken back in 2016 of the number of players that have taken their business to the online platform – click to play UK slots now.

Online UK Slot Games

Online gambling makes up approximately 33% of all gambling in the UK. The recorded profits of 2016 reflected that £4.5billion is the figure that was the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY)- the figure before the deduction of costs of operation. This makes online gambling the biggest sector within the gambling industry. Of this figure of £4.5billion, £2.6 billion of it came from casino games and of this; online slot games generated a profit of £1.8 billion alone.

This proves that the online sector is doing much better financially compared to the offline market. This has to do with the technological advancements of the modern age and how most activities have an online component. The online platform has become a widely accessible one and the preferred method for gaming as a whole.

The safety of firewalls and encryptions have made online gambling feel safer rather than losing a casino card and having to lose any coins on it or have to go through a mountain of paperwork to claim winnings makes online gambling look even more attractive. The safety of having your funds in a casino account behind layers of cyber security is next level regarding the protection of personal information.

Offline slot machines

Traditional casinos still have their place in society; however, this has been shrunken to special occasions and for high rollers looking for the VIP experience. Not to mention the older generations that are used to the older ways of hitting the slots. Land-based casinos have certainly taken a hit with the advancement of technology and the move from many players to online casinos. The spurts of big profits that these casinos get are no match for the constant earnings which online casinos receive. The convenience of being able to play slots anytime and anywhere is unbeatable as players are not restricted to casino times or locations.

Online casinos additionally offer promotions and bonuses for slots. These are wads of free cash as they do not contribute to the house advantage. Loyal and new players are awarded by online casinos whereas real-world casinos typically do not offer these kinds of perks.

Unfortunately, in the face of innovation, the offline market has been left in the dust and cannot compete with the popularity and convenience of online platforms. When it comes down to the question of whether to hit the slots at a casino that you have to drive to and put up with the haze of smoke and other patrons or be comfortable in a controlled environment – it’s no question. The online slots and gambling industry as a whole is more popular and profitable as can be seen in the market research conducted in the UK.

 

Skills You Can Practice Playing Casino

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While many people think that when they play online casino games, it’s simply a way of wasting money, it can actually teach you a lot of valuable skills. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Budgeting for casino

To play online casino responsibly, you need to know how to budget. Or if you did not know already, having burnt your fingers once by overspending probably taught you how to. You would be amazed at how easy it is to overspend at casinos. The bets just seem so small compared to what you could win. Before you know it your pockets are empty and you don’t know where the time has gone. Budgeting is thus a skill that players have to master from the get go.

Casino Patience

Physical and online casinos will teach you to have patience. To play at a casino loyally for years in hopes of hitting that jackpot takes patience and dedication.

Awareness

Even though casinos do not require any skill, you still need to focus and be aware of what is going on around you. Zoning out and playing mindlessly could lead to overspending. So playing casino games will teach you to focus on something, but at the same time be aware of what is going on around you.

Take Calculated Risks with online casino

Casinos will teach you how to manage risk. Good casino players will always do their research to ensure that they are playing at the best online casino possible. They will use the information gathered and choose their casino game or bets accordingly.

Start Small and Build Steady

Avid UK casino players know that some casino online pay out more than others (smaller prizes) while other casino games offer the biggest jackpots but rarely pay out. Players who prefer to play at slots that pay out more frequently know that you have to start small and build your winnings in that way instead of spending lot of money and never winning the progressive slot you have your heart set on. This is a skill that could be applied to many other areas of your life.

Spotting Potential

Playing casino for a long time will teach you how to differentiate between the good and the bad by just looking at the features it has to offer. This good eye and attention to detail is an invaluable skill.

Perseverance when playing casino online

This is one of the more understated skills that playing online casinos can teach players. When playing online casino slots, there will be times when it seems that the machine has gone cold. You might be wondering why you keep on playing, but still you persevere. On that next spin your luck could change. Giving up too soon would have led to you missing out on that win.

 

Top Tips For Online Slot Gaming

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The online slot universe can be an overwhelming one, especially with the amount of online casinos and developers all promising that their products are undoubtedly the best. More often than not these statements aren’t exactly 100% factually true as well, so it pays to be careful in this gambling world.

In fact, it pays very handsomely indeed to be careful of what game you are playing, as well as making sure you actually know the ins and outs of the particular slot too. Far too many gamblers jump straight in without acknowledging the importance of these things, and then wonder why they are not having quite as much luck as they would have liked. Read on for a few top tips for or click to play online slot games.

Choose The Right Online Slot Game

Okay, this one really is an imperative, because if you are playing an online slot that has bad odds you are going to be a lot less likely to hit proverbial gold. Many people don’t realise that different games can have wildly different odds, so it is critical you make sure you are at least considering this.

RTP – or Return To Player – is our best friend here, as it relates to the percentage chance that a game will pay out or not. For instance, anything above 96% RTP is usually considered as pretty good, whereas anything below the 94% mark is really bad. You will generally find that the vast majority of games sit in between 95%-96%, however it is still critical to check this before playing.

Make Sure You Know Your Online Slot Game

Another thing that far too little online slot gamblers do is put in the adequate research on the slot they have chosen to play. You cannot just pick a game and start spinning the reels just like that if you are aiming to make a big win, it is just counter-intuitive. Seriously, the amount of people that will do this and then muck up at the last bonus rounds is frightening.

Do you really want to be in the position where you are within touching distance of a huge jackpot but fail because you did not know exactly how it worked? All it takes is a little bit of diligent research online to see the ins and outs of the game you are playing. Or, of course, you could play in free mode for a few tries until you are certain you know how the game works. It is not hard, and could go a long way!

Stay Responsible

For the love of God stay responsible when you are spinning the reels, because it is far too easy to get carried away when gambling, and quickly losing all of your hard earned cash. Problem gambling is on the rise when it comes to online slots, but there are easy ways in which to combat this.

First off set yourself a very strict time limit when you are gambling, and make sure you do your utmost to stick to it. A financial limit is also of critical importance, especially if you have a tendency to try and chase your losses.