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How To Manage Sports Betting Bankroll: 4 Basic Rules
Sports betting bankroll management is about knowing what you can afford to lose on your bets. Some bookmakers and bettig websites offer bankroll calculators and other tools to help you find out how to better manage your bankroll. Here is a list of 4 basic tips on managing your betting bankroll.
This is how you manage your betting bankroll:
Start With A Budget
Whether you’re shopping for a home, a car, or opening a sports betting account, the same economic principles apply in each case. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Know your bankroll and budget first.
You must determine what you have to spend before entering into the market. If you need a car and you’ve got $10,000, you aren’t looking at SUVs.
Anyone preparing to get serious about sports betting must first determine what they have available to wager and how much they can afford to lose. If you’re putting next week’s mortgage payment on the outcome of an NBA game, then bad things await around the corner.
Treat sports betting like you would any other hobby or investment. Determine what you want to put into it, and more importantly, what you can reasonably afford to invest into the process.
If you’ve got $1,000 to spare to start with, then that’s what you go with. Always follow your gut instincts. If the amount you’ve set aside from your budget to bet on sports leaves you feeling uneasy, then you’ve put in too much. Your conscience is telling you to dial it back and be reasonable with the stipend you’re setting. It’s wise to listen before it’s too late.
Establish A Unit Size
Bettors like to refer to wagers in terms of units. In general, a unit should be no larger than 1-2 percent of a bettor’s entire bankroll. Thus, if you have a bankroll of $1,000, a unit would be between $10-20.
The best advice if you’re new to sports betting is to play it safe. Never wager more than 1-2 percent of your entire bankroll on a single bet. As you learn the ins and outs of wagering on sporting events and begin to develop a stronger comprehension of how it all works, then you can consider to occasionally upping the size of a single wager to three percent of your total bankroll.
Experienced bettors will rarely exceed a wager worth more than five percent of their bankroll, even if it’s a bet that looks to be a sure thing. For the vast majority of wagers, even the sharps, as the top professional bettors are often called, won’t risk more than one percent of their bankroll. They are well aware that as a general rule, you’ll succeed on no more than 53 percent of all the bets you place.
As you enjoy success or failure in your sports betting, naturally these percentages will also fluctuate with the size of your bankroll. A run of success can see your bet size increase, while a slump will require downsizing of those wagers. In all situations, it’s essential that you continue to follow the percentage recommendations when placing wagers.
Stay The Course
Frequently, coaches of professional sports teams will make reference to requiring their team to stick with the process. What this means is that no matter what is taking place within the field of play – whether it be a hot streak, an enduring slump, or a run of hit and miss results – what matters most is that the blueprint for success implemented at the start of the season be maintained through thick or thin.
That plan was put in place because it’s a design that gives a team the best chance to succeed in the long term. It’s also the same approach you must take when gameplanning your sports betting strategy.
If you get on a roll and win three or four bets in a row, don’t get cocky. It’s great to succeed but if that success leads to a greedier style of betting, then the odds will catch up to you. All of that money you’ve made will soon be returned to the sportsbooks via losing wagers.
Don’t change the blueprint because you’re enjoying a good run. By the same token, never increase your wager size in a bid to get lost money back quickly during a losing skid. This is the fastest way bettors go broke.
Make Informed Choices
The smart bettor is a winning bettor. Manage your money that you bet on sports in the same manner that you would treat your retirement savings plan. You wouldn’t throw all of your future savings into a volatile stock. Don’t wager a pile of money on an inconsistent team just because you’re getting favorable odds.
Plan your sports betting bankroll ahead. Determine what your wagers will be well ahead of placing them and whether you win or lose, don’t deviate from the plan. Those who bet with their heart will soon have their heart broken and their account wiped out.
These principles apply whether you are planning to be a regular sports bettor, or if you just intend to wager on major events like the Super Bowl or March Madness. A stable gameplan, combined with wise money management will prove a winning strategy in the long run.
Why is sports betting bankroll management important
To understand the sports betting bankroll management is essential when you wager professionally. Friends with two young children sought to teach them from a young age the value of money, how to budget and most of all, why it’s essential to establish financial boundaries.
Each week when the kids were awarded their allowance, a certain amount was allotted to be deposited into a bank account in their names. Another slice went to be donated to a worthy cause. And there was a piece that they could utilize for discretionary spending – buying a new toy, for instance.
It was wise training for their future lives. The people who get the most out of life are those who budget. They put a plan in place and stick to it. This ensures that their bills are paid on time, it enables them to save money for a rainy day, and to also put a stipend aside to be used for joyous occasions such as annual vacations.
On the other hand, those who choose to take on their financial future while living by the seat of their pants will usually end up flat broke.
The same formula applies in the world of sports betting. If you go into wagering on sports without first formulating a plan of attack, you’ll soon either be out of the sports betting business, or you’ll be wiped out and wondering what happened to all your money.
3 useful sources about sports betting bankroll management:
- Learn about strategies and systems when it comes to managing your sports betting bankrolls and mistakes to avoid when wagering on sports from here: actionnetwork.com/how-to-bet-on-sports/general/sports-betting-mistakes-to-avoid
- Sports Betting Bankroll Calculator can be found here livebetting.net/strategy/bankroll/
- A good video explaining how to manage your sports betting bankroll by BettingExpert:
