Bankroll Needed to Bet on Sports

Your bankroll is the entire sum of money you have set aside for gambling over a given period. It is very important to be able to manage your bankroll wisely, and that starts with just how much money you are willing to invest and can afford to lose if things don’t go your way.

So, make sure you aren’t dipping into your kids’ college fund to bet on sports. Set aside an amount that you are comfortable with, and it needs to be enough that you can get through a losing streak and have plenty left over to ride out the winning streaks. If you don’t have enough to handle a small losing streak, then you shouldn’t be betting at all.

The average serious sports bettor probably bets around $100 to $500 per game. So, let’s just go on the small side and say that you can afford to bet $100 per game. Many gambling experts recommend that you never have more than 2% of your bankroll on any one play, and I certainly would never recommend wagering more than 5% on a single game.

So, if your $100 bet is 2% of your bankroll, then your starting bankroll should be $5,000 as $100 is 2% of $5,000. This is a good place to start, and the amount you bet should solely be based off of your starting bankroll. If you can afford to start with $10,000, then you should be betting roughly $200 per game.

Many handicappers have different rating systems. My rating system is 25*, 20* and 15* plays. If you have a starting bankroll of $5,000 where your average bet is $100, then I’d recommend betting 2.5% of your bankroll on the 25* plays, 2% on the 20* plays and 1.5% on the 15* plays. That means you would be betting $125 on the 25* plays, $100 on the 20* plays, and $75 on the 15* plays.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of what your starting bankroll should be when you decide to bet on sports, and precisely how much of your bankroll you should be betting on a given play. Most novice bettors are wagering too much on plays in comparison to their starting bankroll. Don’t let yourself fall into this common trap that makes a lot of those novice bettors go broke quickly.

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