Casino Bankroll Management

Most people who gamble have a limited source of money. Even though a few lucky folks can afford to wager hundreds of thousands of dollars or more at a time, most gamblers have much more modest limits. In either case, it is critical to treat your gambling budget with care.

Savvy online casino enthusiasts understand the importance of bankroll management. This simply means using gambling funds in the most efficient manner. This way, responsible gamblers can ensure that their bankrolls can survive allowing them to stay in the game another day.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of employing a solid bankroll management system is that it helps players survive long losing runs and minimize the chances of having their bankrolls needlessly wiped out.

This guide will explain bankroll management and provide you with tips that will hopefully help you become a more successful bettor. You should also be able to pick up on a few other insightful tidbits of information that can go a long way toward making your online gambling experience a lot more enjoyable.

Managing Your Gambling Bankroll

A guy walks into a casino with $500 to gamble with. He heads over to the roulette table and places a $500 straight-up bet on the number 17. Sadly, his number doesn’t come up that round and he loses all of his money. His trip to the casino is over in just a minute or so and he does the walk of shame as he leaves the casino.

Just as that guy leaves, another person waltzes onto the casino floor with a $500 bankroll. This person also makes his way to the roulette table where he places a $10 bet on the number 17. It loses just like the previous guy’s bet. However, unlike the previous guy, our current player still has $490 to play with which is more than enough ammunition to continue the battle.

These two examples illustrate the importance of bankroll management. The first player was reckless and it resulted in an early exit. The second player took a more responsible approach and, even though he lost, he is still in the game. In fact, using the same approach ensures that he can remain in the game even if he encounters a long losing skid.

How to Manage Your Casino Bankroll

Before you head to your local land-based casino or login to your favorite online casino site, you need to define your gambling budget. You can do this by answering one simple question: How much can I afford to lose today without compromising my financial responsibilities? This is a question that responsible people ask and answer before they go out to a movie, eat at a restaurant, or take a vacation.

Coming up with a set budget is just one part of the equation. Even more important than setting the budget is having the ability to stick with it. This is where self-discipline and personal responsibility enter the picture. Casinos online and on land make it very easy to exceed your limits. You can simply whip out your credit card or debit card and either hit up an ATM, or make an instant deposit if you zero out your bankroll.

Use Your Online Casino’s Responsible Gambling Tools

It’s a good idea for those who play at our favorite online casinos to make use of the various responsible gambling tools. These allow you to do things like:

Setting limits on deposits and losses is an effective way to ensure that you never exceed your pre-set limits. Even if you go bust and want to deposit more money to chase your losses, you won’t be able to until a new cycle begins.

This prevents players from doing irresponsible things like gambling with grocery money or the rent. In most cases, you can login at your online casino and click on your account profile. You should see a “Responsible Gambling” tab through which you can set your own customized limits.

Establish a Base Unit

Once you have figured out your gambling budget, you should come up with a base unit amount. In other words, establish a standard bet size. Ideally, this should correspond to the size of your bankroll. A lot of successful bettors scale their bet sizes at 1% to 2% of their total bankroll. So, if you have $500 to play with, then your standard unit would be equal to $10.

With that said, there are no hard-and-fast rules regarding the unit size. Some people go with 4% of the total bankroll while others might set the unit size at 10%. The important thing to understand is that establishing a fitting bet size ensures that you will be able to stay in the game a lot longer. You can endure losing streaks and you won’t risk going broke in a single round.

There is nothing wrong with adjusting your stake sizes to stay in line with a fluctuating bankroll. Let’s say you have a starting bankroll of $1,000 and a base unit of $20. You go on a nice run and increase your bankroll to $1,500. You can always consider changing your base unit to $30 which is 2% of $1,500. Conversely, you should consider scaling down your base unit $10 if your bankroll goes down to $500.

Betting Strategies and Systems

There are countless betting strategies and systems for any casino game you can think of. While some of them are a little more complicated than others, they are all pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

Perhaps the most well-known betting system is the Martingale betting strategy. In a nutshell, this system involves doubling your stake size every time you lose and then switching back to the base unit amount following a win. In theory, this allows bettors to recoup all of their losses in a single round.

In fact, they come out one unit ahead. Even though Martingale is best suited for even-money bets, you can use it in a variety of games and situations including sports betting.

So, imagine you are at the roulette table with $50 in your pocket and a unit size of $1. Let’s examine the flow of using Martingale over a few rounds of betting on Evens.

While Martingale looks good on paper, it does come with a few hazards. Mainly, a drawn-out losing streak could put you in a situation where you don’t have enough bankroll left to cover the required bet. Similarly, the required stake amount might exceed the table limit. Of course, that’s the thing with any betting system. They are all flawed in some capacity.

If you are new to the world of betting or the concept of bankroll management, we suggest that you check out our tutorials and then head over to one of our recommended online casinos. You can then play your favorite casino game for free using play money.

We suggest that you establish a play money base unit and then experiment with various betting strategies. You can even come up with and test your own system. This way, you won’t lose any real money.

In addition to trying out demo versions of the various casinos games, beginners should strongly consider staying away from betting systems at first. Sticking with a base unit keeps things a lot simpler and won’t involve
uncomfortable wager sizes. Once you get into the rhythm of things, you can start looking into betting systems like Martingale and the following:

Drawbacks to Proper Bankroll Management

Proper bankroll management has a lot of advantages. It mitigates the risk of zeroing out your bankroll and it helps you survive long losing streaks. It also encourages a responsible approach to gambling. However, adhering to strict bankroll management has certain disadvantages too.

One of the biggest drawbacks to bankroll management is that it can turn an otherwise entertaining experience into a bit of a grind. Just as bankroll management helps to keep losses to a minimum, it also hampers the ability to make a big score. It’s always fun when you find a strong betting angle and spice things up by betting $50 instead of your base rate of $10. After, we are talking about gambling here.

You need to realize something else too. Not even the most effective bankroll management technique is bulletproof. If you are a reckless bettor or simply unlucky, there’s always the chance of going broke. Bankroll management is just one of many components of a solid gambling strategy.

Boost Your Bankroll by Claiming Bonuses

Those who play at online casinos want to win money and grow their bankrolls. One of the best ways to get a head start on bankroll growth is claiming bonuses. We have loads of welcome bonuses, free spins offers, and a lot more right here on our site. These exclusive deals give casino buffs a chance to beef up their account balances right out of the gate.

Make sure you don’t just pick some random bonus. Even though some offers look fantastic on the surface, you will find that some of them aren’t such great deals. Unreasonable terms and conditions such as high wagering requirements can actually turn a supposed bonus into a money-losing venture. Our preferred online casinos have awesome bonuses with very reasonable terms.

One thing that we should remind you about is that you shouldn’t deviate from your bankroll management practices just to satisfy the terms and conditions of a bonus. Just because there is a max bet limit, it doesn’t mean you have to max bet. Check the offer closely and make sure that it’s conducive to your bankroll management style.

Summary

Playing online casino games is a great way to stay entertained. And when you are having fun, you don’t want it to end. Sure, you might have to take a break from gambling for things like eating, sleeping, working, and tending to a social life.

Nevertheless, it’s always reassuring to know that you can go back to playing real-money casino games without having to reload. This is because you take bankroll management seriously. You know what the benefits are and where it fits in with your overall gambling strategy.

It’s entirely up to you in the end. People gamble for different reasons and they also value money differently. This guide is simply giving you a few ways to make sure you live to bet another day. It doesn’t matter if we are discussing sports betting, casino games, online poker, or any other form of betting. Those who succeed in gambling know how to manage their money.