Money Management In Sports Betting: How To Manage Your Bankroll

Money management strategies are so important if you want to succeed at online sports betting. It’s only by putting in place both a betting strategy and a money management strategy that you will increase your chance of winning and making consistent profits without risking more than you can afford to lose.

In this article, we take a look at good money management tips to help you succeed at sports betting. But first …

What Is Money Management In Sports Betting?

Money management starts with you setting a starting bankroll budget for your sports betting adventure. Your budget must be made up only of money you can afford to lose, and it should be set aside for the sole purpose of betting on sports. 

It shouldn’t include more than you can afford to lose – ergo, chunks of your wages/savings that need to be used for things like paying the bills.

Then, you need to determine a percentage of your bankroll that can be used on each stake. This will ensure that you a) never bet your entire bankroll on one bet and b) you’ve always got enough left over to cover yourself in the advent of a losing streak. 

How much of your bankroll should you stake on each bet? 

It’s really up to you, but we recommend never betting more than 5% of your bankroll on any bet. That said, it will often depend on the odds and how confident you are of a particular bet. For short odds, you could increase your stake, and for longer odds, you could shorten it. However, it’s really important that you fine-tune your staking strategy before you start betting. 

Bankroll management strategies, then, are seemingly simple enough. But where many sports bettors go wrong when betting on sports is what happens after they’ve set their budget. They eventually hit either a winning streak or a losing streak and aren’t able to stay disciplined enough with either their betting strategy or their money management strategy. 

Good Money Management In The Face of a Losing Streak 

Even the best sports bettors in the world will eventually hit a losing streak. It happens to us all. Sometimes, everything goes wrong. Whatever type of bet you place loses. 

At this point, it’s very easy to lose your head and wager your entire bankroll. We’ve seen it happen many times to many bettors. While they’ve already set a budget and decided on what percentage of their bankroll will be placed on their wagers, it all goes out of the window once they start losing bets. 

What you need to do is decide on how you’re going to manage your bankroll – and stick to it. It sounds simple, but the reality is that this is all it really takes. Unless you remain disciplined and stick to your previously conceived money management tactics, you will blow your entire bankroll. Just remember that losing happens. The best we can do is remain patient and wait for the next opportunity. 

Online Sports Betting Money Management In The Face of a Winning Streak

Winning streaks are, of course, fantastic. But when betting on sports, too many sports bettors take advantage of their long line of winning bets and become overconfident. 

They become so overconfident that they adjust their cash management strategy accordingly.

What do they do? 

They increase their stake.

This is a huge No-No because, while it may maximize profits in the short-term if your winning streak carries on a bit longer, it will do much more damage in the long term when a bet inevitably eventually loses. 

So what you need to do is not panic when you lose a few bets (don’t chase losses), but also not get too giddy and overly confident when you win a few bets. When betting online, just create a bankroll management plan – and stick to it, no matter what.  

Money Management Tips 

To recap:

• Set an initial bankroll budget
• Never bet more than you can afford to lose
• Set a staking plan
• Stick to your staking plan whether you win or lose
• Understand that losing streaks happen

On a final point, we just want to reiterate the importance of cash management in sports betting. Even the very best, most talented sports bettors often go bust because sports betting isn’t just a case of being the most talented. You need to mix talent at gambling with the ability to manage your money. Otherwise, you will inevitably go bust. This is just a fact.