Bankroll Management Tips

One thing I wish I’d known about when I first got started in sports betting is bankroll management. I started with offline betting – I’d visit my sports book and have a flutter every now and then, but my bet sizes were irregular, and I didn’t pay attention to my overall win / loss ratio. In fact, I didn’t track anything at all. This was fun at first, but I spent way too much, and after a while I realised that I was stressing when I lost a bet – never a good thing.

I later learned about bankrolls and started with a simple one. I allocated myself a certain amount each week to use to bet on sports. I’d split that between a few different sports – Sunday Formula 1, Saturday football betting, and treat that money as lost. When I won, it was a great feeling.

Starting off like that is a good way to add a little structure, but if you want to do something more serious, work out your bankroll for the entire year, and allocate 2% per bet. You can stretch to 5% if you’re absolutely, positively, certain that the bet will win, but by certain I mean really certain. I don’t recommend spending that much on one bet under most circumstances – if you lose it, that’s a big chunk to lose.

Try to bet the same amount each time. When you change the amount you bet, you also change the number of successful bets you need to break even, and that makes tracking your statistics difficult.

Good luck with your sports betting, and remember, it’s worth it to keep reading, and never stop learning – more knowledge just makes you a more successful bettor!