Mastering Your Bankroll: Essential Strategies for Sports Betting

One of the most overlooked and underappreciated aspects of being a successful sports bettor is bankroll management. While it may not sound sexy or a be a popular topic of gambling conversation, knowing how much to bet on a game is critical when it comes to the long-term viability and sustainability of a sports bettor.

Simply put, if you bet too much on a game you can quickly go bankrupt and, just like that, your sports betting career is over before it starts. On the other hand, if you bet too little on a game you could be forfeiting value, preventing you from turning a profit.

The key is to map out a disciplined and consistent bankroll management strategy that keeps you afloat during the inevitable ups and downs of sports betting but also sets you up for long-term success.

With this in mind, let’s dig deeper and provide a blueprint for turning sports betting from a hobby into an investment.

Define Your Bankroll

The first step to bankroll management is defining your bankroll. In gambler’s parlance, your bankroll is a specific amount of money set aside only for sports betting. Consider it your “funny money” or disposable income.

There is no perfect amount and every bettor is different. However, your starting bankroll must be a number that you are comfortable with losing. Yes, you heard that right. Only risk what you can afford to lose.

Imagine if you lost your entire starting bankroll. Of course, it would be frustrating and disappointing. But if you lost a large amount, so much so that it forced you to miss your rent or mortgage payment, cut back on groceries, or, God forbid, beg a friend or loved one for some cash, then that number is too big.

For most new bettors, a good starting bankroll might be $100, $500 or $1,000.

Once you’ve picked a number that works for you, the next step is to figure out how much to bet on each game.

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Using Flat Betting

Many new bettors have little or no plan when it comes to deciding how much to wager on any given game. Most decide how much to bet based upon their confidence level. If a person is very confident in a bet, they are likely to bet a larger amount. If they “like” a bet but aren’t quite as confident, they are likely to bet less. In sports betting, if you “like” a bet but aren’t completely sold, that is considered a lean.

The problem with this strategy is that it’s based upon emotion, not data, and sets your up for massive fluctuations in your bankroll. For example, let’s say a bettor risks $50 on a game that they “love” and only $25 on a game that they “like.”

Maybe the bettor goes 1-1, winning one of the bets and losing the other. However, they win the $25 bet they “liked” and lose the $50 bet they “loved.” Instead of breaking even, they are in the hole and lost $25.

Instead of placing wagers based on emotion, bettors should instead embrace Flat Betting. This means betting the same amount on every single game, regardless of confidence level. This strategy will help you survive the steep learning curve when you first start and also weather the storm of cold streaks that all bettors encounter. It will also set you up for a positive Return on Investment (ROI) when you’re hot and doing well.

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A good rule of thumb is to only risk 1% to 5% of your bankroll per game. Many professional sports bettors only risk 1% or 2%. The key is not exceeding 5% because at that point you are assuming heightened risk, which means one bad day or bad week could lead to bankruptcy.

A good medium is risking 3% per game. To put this into context and figure out what this number means for you, take your starting bankroll and multiply that number by 0.03.

For example, if you are starting with $100, this means risking $3 per game. In turn, if you start with $1,000, this means you are risking $30 per game. The $3 or $30 now becomes your unit size. Moving forward, it’s recommended that flat bettors risk their respective 1 unit per game.

This may not seem like much but it’s the smartest way to put yourself on a long-term path to prosperity.

Limit your Bets

Another important aspect of bankroll management is limiting your number of bets. In the beginning, many bettors look to place wagers on countless games across multiple sports. They want an endless stream of action, thinking that the more games they bet on the more money they can win.

However, the truth is that the more bets you make, the more money you can lose. Placing too many bets is one of the quickest and easiest ways to go bankrupt.

Also, keep in mind that bettors must pay the juice on their bets. So, the more bets you place, the more opportunity there is for the juice to chip away at your winnings, forcing you to climb an even steeper hill to turn a profit. 

Think of it this way: one glass of wine a night is perfectly ok. But if you drink 10 glasses of wine a night, you have a problem.

There is no perfect number and it can fluctuate based on the day and time of year, but a good benchmark is only placing 1-3 bets per day.

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When to Adjust Your Bankroll

Ty not to tweak your unit size up and down based upon recent performance. Of course, if you’re doing well you might want to start betting more on each game. However, hot streaks are often followed by cold streaks and you’d hate to start betting more, only to find yourself snakebitten and lose larger amounts.

Many sports bettors adjust their bankrolls once per year, typically in the quiet, dog days of summer prior to the return of NFL and College Football.

To put this into perspective, if a bettor started with a $1,000 bankroll a year ago and now it’s up to $1,500, that bettor will multiply $1,500 by 0.03 and get $45. This means they are now risking $45 per game, with $45 being their new unit size instead of $30.

On the other hand, if a bettor started with $1,000 a year ago and is now down to $500, that bettor will multiply $500 by 0.03 and get $15. This means they are now risking $15 per game, with $15 being their new unit size instead of $40.

Keep Grinding

Many new bettors want to get rich quickly and become millionaires overnight. Unfortunately, sports betting is hard and this just isn’t realistic.

Instead, bettors should enter the market with clear eyes and realistic expectations. The goal is to get .01% sharper each day and slowly build your bankroll over time by sticking to a consistent and disciplined bankroll management plan.

Once you’ve adopted the flat betting approach, it will simplify your sports betting experience.

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