Bankroll Management for Sports Betting How To Make the Most of Winnings
Bankroll management in sports betting can be the difference between major profit and walking away with nothing. Your bankroll grows as you win more bets and can be a fallback when you hit a losing streak. Proper bankroll management is essential to developing a sustainable money pot in an online sportsbook.
This guide explains the art of sports betting bankroll management. Learn how to protect yourself from bankruptcy while also strategizing towards profit.
What is Bankroll Management in Sports Betting?
A bankroll in sports betting is the money you invest in your account to wager with.
Bankroll management is all about planning your sports betting budget to get the most from your funds. Whether you have $10 or $10,000, the aim is to steadily grow your pot over time.
To accomplish this, bettors split their bankroll into units. Let’s say you have $100 and plan to risk just 1% of your bankroll on each bet. You have 100 bets to play with, and your standard unit stake is $1.
Throughout this guide, we’ll use the $100/1% example to demonstrate how a bankroll rises and falls.
Remember, smart bankroll management doesn’t guarantee profits. You can make smart choices and still not have certainty over your bets. However, by learning about betting value and nailing a smart sports betting strategy, you can maximize your chances of turning a profit.
Before we look at bankroll betting strategies, let’s first look at why bankroll management is so important for those playing online sportsbooks.
Why Is Sports Betting Bankroll Management Important?
It’s always worth considering bankroll management when betting on sports. Overlook it, and you could blow your budget in one foolish bet. It’s this risk of running out of money that makes bettors focus on their bankroll.
Stick to a system, and you’ll reduce the impact of losing a bet while benefiting from steadily growing your profit. Here are some of the important factors to consider around bankroll management:
Protecting Your Bankroll From Bankruptcy
We all like to dream of winning big when betting on sports. However, it’s critical to keep an eye on your budget. Placing a huge wager on the Red Sox winning the World Series could earn you a windfall or put you at risk of bankruptcy.
By applying reasonable bankroll management techniques, you can stay well clear of being wiped out in one go. You could, for example, cap your bet size at a certain amount, or only bet a percentage of your bankroll on any one wager.
Of course, there’s always a risk involved in sports betting. The beauty of a bankroll is that your risk is reduced to losing just a small chunk of your budget, not all of it.
Managing Variance
Variance in sports betting refers to the degree of risk attached to a bet. For example, if the odds are high, you could win a considerable payout. The tradeoff is your chances of winning are low. This variance can easily lead to long losing streaks, as you try to chase one big win to cover many losses.
Considering variance helps bankroll management because you can limit risk and keep it within low margins, so you never bet excessively.
Keeping Your Mental State Stable
Sports betting is meant to be enjoyable, but it can also pose a risk to your mental health. Excessive gambling can lead to extra financial stress or even develop into a gambling addiction.
Managing your bankroll means you’re less likely to fall into these traps. The goal is to treat your bankroll like an entertainment budget. Keep it low and try not to exceed it to avoid unnecessary financial difficulty.
Read our responsible gambling guide for more information.
Extracting the Most of Your Wagers
Part of bankroll management is about maximizing your profit potential. You can bet more on markets where you have more confidence, and reduce your stakes on markets you’re uncertain about. By setting a variable staking plan, you can manage the value of each bet with ease. We’ll talk more about variable staking later in this guide.
Now you know why bank management is important, it’s time to look at strategy.
How To Pick the Best Bankroll Management Strategy for Your Needs?
There are two core aspects of bankroll management: setting your initial bankroll and choosing a betting strategy. Both factors depend on how you bet, your attitude to risk, what you like to wager on, and your personal finances.
If you’re still figuring out your strategy, then answering these questions will help:
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You might love sports, but how dedicated are you to sports betting? This is a question you need to ask yourself. Recreational gamblers can afford to be loose with their picks and chase bigger payouts per unit bet. However, pros who rely on sports betting to make money need to think about risk a lot more.
Most pros adopt a conservative strategy that protects their bankroll rather than chase an impossible dream.
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Bankroll management requires a lot of discipline. There’s no point in creating a strategy only to blow your entire budget on one impulsive wager. Set rules you know you can follow, and stick to bet types and stake sizes within your plan. For example, if you hit a losing streak and plan to scale down your stakes, be sure to follow through on that strategy.
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Compare how much you enjoy betting versus how much you actually win. If you’re betting for entertainment, you might reduce your stake to fund longer sessions. If you’re betting for profit, a larger state might be more worthwhile.
Of course, there’s a sweet spot between risk and reward, no matter what you do. The best thing about a bankroll is you have the scope to discover what kind of bettor you are.
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Sportsbooks offer hundreds of odds on games every day year-round, so it’s important to figure out what bets you plan to target. For example, moneyline bets are great for keeping things simple and low-stakes. However, if you like more complex, high-risk betting, you may thrive on creating parlays instead.
It’s also worth considering wait times. Future bets can be highly profitable, but they can take months to settle. Locking too much budget into futures markets can hurt your bankroll, so it’s good to plan ahead.
Finally, consider how often you’re planning to bet. The more frequently you bet, the higher the variance. For example, if you have a $100 bankroll and bet 1% stakes per wager once a month, you won’t make a huge impact on your bankroll.
Types of Staking Plans: How Much of Your Bankroll Should You Bet?
Now that you know how to establish a bankroll, it’s time to learn about staking plans. Staying loyal to your plan, even when you hit a losing streak, is crucial to protecting your bankroll.
Generally, players have two staking options: flat stakes and variable stakes. Here are some more details on each:
1. Flat Stakes
A flat stakes betting plan is where you set the same stake for all wagers, no matter the odds. This can either be a numerical figure that you stick to or a percentage of your bankroll at any given time.
Example: You may choose a flat stakes strategy of betting exactly $5 on each sports wager. Your overall bankroll is $500, and you never shift away from your stake size. You still bet $5 per wager even if your bankroll rises to $700 or falls to $45.
Flat stakes are perfect for beginners who want to strategize their bets and significantly reduce the risk of going bankrupt.
However, the drawback here is you’re unlikely to win a life-changing amount of money unless you wager on a supreme outsider, which is unlikely to win.
If you plan to bet with flat stakes, then first set a bankroll you can afford and then choose a percentage that doesn’t eat into your budget — let’s say 1%.
Here, you can bet $5 with a $500 bankroll. Win that bet, and your next stake will be 1% of $506 = $5.06.
2. Variable Stakes
Variable stakes is all about having more or less confidence in your wager, and changing your bet size to suit your confidence.
Here, you choose a unit stake and vary it depending on how risky you think your selection is.
Example: You set a base betting unit at $5 for all sports bets. This single unit is like a flat stake. However, you then increase the number of units for a wager depending on your confidence and the wager’s win probability.
Bettors use a scale between one and 10 units. Here are some examples of variable stakes in action:
- 1 Unit — The simplest variable bet, at 1 Unit, is used for low-odds wagers. You’re unlikely to ever get too close to losing your bankroll, although you’ll need a lot of luck to start earning mega profits.
- 3 Units — This is generally considered the highest of the low-risk variable stake options. If one unit is $1, then you’ll have 33 three-unit bets covered in a $100 bankroll.
- 10 Units — Turn up the risk and chase bigger rewards by wagering 10 units at one time. With variable betting, this can greatly increase your overall stakes and profit potential within a couple of wins. However, it’s also much riskier.
Beginners Tip: If you’re new to sports betting, then it’s worth staying with one unit per wager when variable betting. This way, you minimize your risk and can practice betting on more sports and bet types before increasing your units.
Fixed vs Variable Staking — What Is Better?
There is no objectively better betting option. Both fixed and variable staking serve the same purpose: creating a disciplined, strategized bankroll management system.
The difference between the two comes when you start making or losing money. Fixed staking stays the same no matter what happens in your previous bets. Variable staking maintains the same percentage of your bankroll, whether it goes up or down.
If you want to evolve from fun, casual betting to more serious wagers, consider this three-step flat stake strategy:
1) 1% Flat Stake on Moneyline — Keeping things simple and wager 1% of your original bankroll on moneyline wagers in a sport you love.
2) 2% Flat Stake on Totals — Next, flex your bankroll a little with 2% stakes on a more variable odds type, like score totals in NBA betting. Here, you can chase bigger payouts without too much risk.
3) 5% Flat Stake on Props — After a while, if you want to go big, check out the prop bets in your chosen sportsbook and go with 5% flat stakes. You could land big rewards here. Or, if your props carry low odds, you might find a sure-fire winner that returns small but regular profits.
The above strategy looks at three steps to nailing flat stakes. But what about variable staking plans? Read on to discover the different types bettors use to reap bigger and more regular profits.
Popular Variable Staking Plans
There’s nothing stopping you creating your own unique staking plan when betting on sports. However, bettors can thrive on existing plans and tweak them to their preferences.
Indeed, sports bettors have adopted variable staking plans from classic casino players who set their original gambling bankroll in Vegas in the 1940s and 50s.
Here are some variable staking plans you can use at online sportsbooks – not just in the casino.
Kelly Criterion
The Kelly Criterion is a popular strategy to find the optimal size of a bet relative to your bankroll. It looks like this: f = (bp – q) / b
- f is the bet size based on a percentage of your bankroll, which is what you’re trying to find
- b is the bet’s decimal odds, which are 1
- p is the probability of winning the wager
- q is the probability of losing the bet
Basing your bankroll management on the combination of value and probability is a good idea. After all, that’s the basic principle of sports betting. If you plan to be more conservative, then you can do a half Kelly or a quarter Kelly and reduce your stake.
Half Kelly
A half Kelly is a less risky version of a full Kelly. You simply halve the bet size of whatever outcome you get from your Kelly Criterion formula.
So, if your optimum Kelly Criterion bet size is $6 to wager on the Jaguars beating the Titans, then your half Kelly stake is $3.
Quarter Kelly
A quarter Kelly cuts your optimal bet size to 25%, reducing the risk even further. Your wager on the Jaguars to beat the Titans falls to $1.50.
If you want to dig deeper into the Kelly Criterion, then read our betting math guide here.
Top Staking Plan for Sports Bettors
The Kelly Criterion is usually the go-to solution for bettors, so long as you’re happy to do the math!
There are plenty of other betting systems that you can adapt for sports betting, but they are generally used in the casino. These include:
Set a unit price of, say, $1. If you lose your first bet, then your next wager stakes two units ($2). Lose that, and you go to four units ($4). Now, if you start winning again, you could choose to reduce your stakes to $0.50 and then $0.25. Or you may decide to stick with a $1 base stake.
Add an extra unit stake per wager when you lose. So, if you lose a $2 bet, your next wager will cost you $3. Lose that, and the next is $4.
Double your stake when you win. A win increases your bankroll, so you have more cash to wager with. The Paroli Strategy is perhaps the quickest way to win big money, but it also comes with bigger risks.
Bankroll Management in Sports Betting: Key Takeaways
Bankroll management in sports betting can help protect you from going bankrupt while also maximizing any potential profits. Even if you lose, you lose slower, which is easier to recover from than blowing your entire budget on a single, massive wager. This guide covered how important it is to find the right bankroll strategy for you and stick to it. It all depends on how long you want your budget to last and what your profit goals are.
If you’d like to get started, check out our top sportsbooks for recommendations. There’s no guaranteed wins in sports betting, but you can at least max out your chances at a highly rated betting site.
