Bankroll Management Sports Betting
Anyone has the potential to be a sharp sports bettor with the right info. That’s why SBD put all the fundamentals into our introductory series for new bettors: Sports Betting 101. Learn about the types of sports bets you can place, how to read odds, and how to manage your bankroll to get the most value out of your wagers. Bankroll management applies to any form of gambling. In sports betting, poker and casino there is a great deal of variance so if you are betting too big a percentage of your bankroll you will inevitably go broke! I’m going to start this article by outlining good bankroll management for each form of wagering we talk about here at BetOnIt.org (sports betting.
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This site isn’t for most people. If you thrive on discovering the latest “game of the year”, prefer trusting your gut over sticking to a strategy, or believe in chasing returns by making it all back on one play, there are plenty of other sites you can turn to.
We pride ourselves on working with clients who have clear goals, realistic expectations, and a cool head. We work hard to protect our clients from making emotional decisions that can negatively impact their long-term success.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
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That might seem like a strange approach in an industry littered with sites that give out “Games of the Year” 20 times a season and promise completely unrealistic profit numbers. But no matter how good you are at self-promotion, eventually you have to produce. And if the first thing you do with a new client is to promise something you can’t deliver on, eventually you’ll be exposed as the fraud you are.
We’re interested in building long-term relationships with our clients. Would you believe a stock broker who told you he was going to beat the return of the S&P 500 every year by 10 points and that you’d never have a losing month? Of course not. So why believe a service that makes similar claims?
Billy Walters is widely regarded as the most successful sports bettor of the past 30 years. Well, this comes straight from the mouth of one of Walters’ former employees, “The average guy on the street might be disillusioned if he knew the actual winning percentage.”
Does it shock you to know that Walters has gone on record saying he had hoped to hit 55 percent of his bets over the course of an NFL season?
So if you hear someone or some service promising numbers much higher than that, then you know they’re making promises they can’t keep.
Our service is targeted towards sophisticated bettors who realize that losing is just as much a part of this game as winning is. And if you can’t deal with that reality then we’re probably not a good fit for each other. Please make sure you have the necessary bankroll, money management skills, and discipline to successfully utilize the service. Past results are no guarantee of future results.
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– Doc’s Sports
We all know that skill is the key to sports betting success. The ability to research and analyze, to predict the unpredictable, is what separates the wheat from the gambling chaff. And though skill is imperative, it is not a strategy.
The best professional sports gamblers win about 60% of their wagers. While that’s certainly a lot, improper investment or bet sizing can still bankrupt the very best. Regardless of skill level, a betting strategy is crucial for anyone who wants to make money gambling over the long term.
A Quick Definition
Bankroll management is a big-picture betting strategy adopted for the sake of managing risk. It allows bettors to wisely choose how and when they should deposit, bet, and withdraw their hard-earned money. In short, bankroll management operates as a sort of executive function for gamblers – the long-term strategy that helps goals become realities.
Bankroll Management In Practice
While the once-a-year, Super-Bowl-only bettor may not need to consider their bankroll finances, even the beginning, consistent bettor does. Anyone who bets over the long term will benefit from these few minor mathematical considerations.
Step 1: Determining Bankroll Size
Probably the most important aspect of bankroll management is establishing a proper understanding of your financial situation. Investing the right amount of money in yourself helps to mitigate much of the emotion in betting, and therefore, many of the bad decisions.
To determine the right amount of money to invest, first ask yourself the following question: how much money can I afford to lose? If your answer to that question is less than you have invested, abort the mission ASAP.
This number will range widely between bettors and depends entirely on your personal finances and risk tolerance. Do not put $1,000 into your account if you will need that money for rent or a car payment.
Instead, you should decide on a reasonable amount of money to invest from your savings – a number you are willing, in the worst-case scenario, to lose. You can also decide to deposit a set amount of cash on, say, a monthly basis.
Step 2: Bet Sizing
Once you’ve established what your bankroll is, the next step is to determine the size of your individual bets. Just because you have invested $1,000 in your sportsbook doesn’t mean you should throw it all down on one bet.
The above situation can be classified as a “negative risk asymmetry”. Your potential risk (in real, not merely economic, terms) outweighs your potential gains. A doubling-up would be nice, a loss, disastrous. Never extend yourself so much that a single loss, or a few consecutive losses, is enough to wipe your account clean.
Instead, you should decide on a percentage of your bankroll that you are comfortable allocating for each wager. Bettors will fall into one of the following three categories: risk-averse, risk-neutral, and risk-loving; these categories map onto the preferred bet sizing strategies, respectively, conservative, average, and aggressive.
As a rule of thumb, a conservative bettor should wager 1 – 2% of their bankroll per bet, an average bettor 3%, an aggressive, 4 – 5%. As an example, if you adopt a conservative strategy and have a bankroll of $1,000, your standard bet size should be between $10 and $20.
Step 3: Recalibrating Bankroll And Risk
As you continue placing bets your bankroll will change. Though hopefully positive, any change in bankroll size may necessitate a recalibration. Say you started with $1,000 and an aggressive strategy, betting $50 per wager – what should you do if your bankroll grows to $1,500?
Your first option is to change nothing. You can hope to continue your success with those $50 bets. However, those $50 bets would become a smaller and smaller proportion of your bankroll the more money you make.
In other words, if you kept up the $50 bets once your bankroll reached $1,500, you would only be betting about 3% of your bankroll – downgrading your risk strategy from aggressive to average.
To avoid this outcome you can recalibrate your bet sizing whenever your bankroll changes. In the previous example (if you wanted to maintain a 5% bet size) you would change your standard bet from $50 to $75.
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If it seems a bit tedious to recalculate your bet sizing after every win or loss, that’s because it is. Most bettors prefer to recalibrate their bankroll on a fixed schedule – perhaps once a month.
A third option is to withdraw funds. If you feel comfortable with your $50 bets and want to maintain the proportionality for an aggressive strategy, you could decide to withdraw any money you make that exceeds your $1,000 principal investment.
You could also utilize a hybrid strategy, withdrawing, say, half of your winnings monthly. This strategy would allow you to grow your bankroll slowly while also solidifying some of your gains.
Bankroll Management Sports Betting Parlay
How Bankroll Management Gives You A Sports Betting Edge
Sports Betting Bankroll Simulator
While taking the time to calculate these financial details may seem monotonous, it is definitely worth the effort. Of all the tweaks you can make to your game, managing your bankroll properly may be the best bang for your buck. It’s the difference between having a long-term strategy and going along without a plan. Whatever your winning percentage, proper bankroll management is a must.