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Bankroll Management

Money management is a process used by all types of gamblers (from slots players to lottery enthusiasts) to minimize the impact of losses and maximize the amount of play they get from their total budget. The term “bankroll” is common slang for the total amount a player intends to wager for a given period of time.

Casino Bankroll ManagementThe easiest way to explain the basics of this form of sports betting strategy is to imagine a movie enthusiast on a budget. He wants to see as many of this year’s blockbusters as he can, but he can only spend $200 total on tickets.

Think of the many different ways the film buff could split up that $200 in order to see and enjoy as many films as he can in the next year: he could pick the films he really wanted to see ahead of time and determine his budget based on that schedule, he could break the $200 up into a weekly budget, or he could even seek out matinees and specially-priced features to make his budget extend a little further. All of those tactics (plus a few more) are identical to sports betting financial management.


The Need for Money Managing Tactics

The idea of creating a budget turns people off. It’s important for gamblers to understand the purpose of bankroll managing theories – they are designed to make the sports betting hobby more entertaining.

There’s no joy for a gambler in wagering with money he couldn’t afford to lose. Sticking to a budget that’s designed to prevent over-wagering, chasing losses, and betting outside of budget is common sense.

Since one purpose of these strategies is to extend a player’s bankroll as far as it can be stretched, this type of budgeting can be thought of as increasing the value of a player’s gambling dollar. Breaking up a total dollar amount set aside for gambling into smaller units ensures a player’s ability to bet throughout a season, rather than over-extend their money by placing too many bets (or wagers of too large a size) early on.

  • Strategies for Managing a Gambling Budget

    Strategies for protecting a bankroll are easy to find, described in detail in books and on the Internet. Individuals interested in implementing a budget managing technique can research any number of these tactics online or from friends who are also bettors.

    The two money management plans described below are commonly used by both novice and professional bettors to protect their sports gambling investment, but are by no means the only methods for protecting a bankroll. Variations on these themes are important; since each bettor’s situation is different, the specifics of every budgeting plan will vary.

  • The 1-3% Rule

    This is the most-often discussed money managing trick. The idea is simple – bettors divide their total budget up into units between one and three percent. That number becomes their single-unit bet size. Conservative gamblers hover toward one percent, aggressive punters venture further toward three percent (or more).

    An example using a bankroll of $500 would be setting a single-unit bet at either $5, $10, or $15. This technique also gives players the ability to place multiple units when they think the opportunity is right. Keeping wagers at such a low percentage of a total budget protects bettors against losses and losing streaks.

  • Calendar-Oriented Betting

    This plan takes advantage of the season arrangement in sports to create a long-term money managing plan. Most sports worldwide operate within a defined season. Sports fans who want to lay bets throughout a season can choose the games they want to bet on in advance, mark them on a calendar, add up the numbers, and divide their total budget by the number of bets they want to place.

    The calendar is helpful in maintaining the consistency of the strategy, which is the most important feature. Keeping a physical record of what bets were placed when (in a way that’s easy to compare to the original plan) is an easy trick to ensure proper budgeting.

Examples of Calendar & Season-Based Funds Managing

This technique works well for sports like American football, with a small number of games established far in advance with plenty of time between for research. A person interested in betting in each of the NFL’s twenty-one regular and post-season weekends (averaging two bets per NFL week) will want to be able to lay forty-two wagers.

If this player’s total budget is $1,000, his wagers should never go higher than $23 each, laying bets of no more than one $23 unit or multiple units that add up to a total of $23.

This simple financial protection protects the NFL bettor in the above example against over-betting and over-extending his investment. It would work differently for a sport like college basketball.

During the regular season, a bettor wanting to apply this calendar technique may want to establish a weekly budget during NCAA basketball’s regular season (with its odd and rapidly-paced schedule) rather than trying to choose the games he wants to wager on in advance.

Given a twenty-week regular season schedule, an NCAA basketball bettor may choose to divide his budget by 60, allowing him to bet three games per week on average. The same $1,000 budget would give our college sports bettor a maximum weekly betting budget of $50.

He can break that amount up however he wants – so long as he doesn’t wager more than $50 per week, he won’t blow his budget. All of this is assuming our college basketball fan was smart and set aside a separate roll for March Madness, of course – that sport’s postseason requires a totally different strategy.

Any financial investment a person makes – be it a purchase of mutual funds, a retirement plan, or a $10 bill placed on Calgary +130 against Vancouver – should be backed up by a technique for managing the money moving in and out of that investment. For customers of Internet sportsbooks, that means using a bankroll management tactic to control spending and ensure adherence to a budget that will last for an entire season or pre-determined amount of playing time.

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