It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of betting on a football match or playing online casino games. It’s during the euphoria that some online gamblers lose their way in terms of controlling their money. Without even meaning to, it’s easy for someone to gamble more than was originally intended.
Here’s the thing about online gambling. It’s a great form of adult entertainment as long as it’s done responsibly. At a minimum, responsible online gambling requires good money management skills. It’s solid money management skills that can help you avoid problem gambling issues when gambling online.
Let’s discuss how to establish a realistic online gambling bankroll.
Important Steps for Managing Your Bankroll
The first “rule of thumb” about any kind of gambling is never gamble with more than you can afford to lose. Realistically, what you can afford to lose is your discretionary money, which is what remains after your financial obligations are met and savings have been set aside. If you religiously adhere to this important rule, it’s very unlikely you will ever encounter financial or personal difficulties due to gambling.
With this rule out of the way, we can begin a discussion about establishing and managing a gambling bankroll.
Establishing a Realistic Bankroll
As you begin the process of establishing your bankroll, you need to decide over what period of time the bankroll will be applicable. Your choices should be limited to daily, weekly, or monthly. Obviously, you would want to set a daily bankroll limit at a lower level than a monthly bankroll limit.
Using a mathematical approach, you should start with your aforementioned discretionary income. Let’s say your monthly discretionary income is $300.
Now, let’s calculate your bankroll options as follows:
Daily – If creating a daily bankroll, you would first need to decide how many days a month you plan to gamble online. That’s the number you will divide the $300 by to determine your daily bankroll.
Weekly – It’s easy to calculate a weekly bankroll. You would take $300 and divide it by 4 weeks and arrive at $75 a week.
Monthly – Again, monthly is very simple. Your monthly bankroll will equal your monthly discretionary income or in this case $300.
Managing Your Online Gambling Bankroll
With your bankroll limit established, you can now proceed to bet on sports or play online casino games. Remember, your goal should be having fun. If you win, it’s icing on the cake. Keep in mind that many online casinos offer free spins or free chips to help boost your bankroll. Make sure you take advantage of such bonuses.
Managing a bankroll has a lot to do with making sure you get as much fun for as long as possible out of your bankroll. If your weekly bankroll is $75 and you bet it all on the first blackjack hand of the week, there’s a 51.2% chance you will lose. So much for the rest of the week, right?
Assuming you didn’t walk under a ladder or just cross paths with a black cat, you can expect to be as lucky as the next person. Based on that, let’s assume your win-back rate is close to 47%, which is about average for most gamblers. Remember, the house almost always wins. Otherwise, that win-back rate would be above 50%.
Knowing you will win back 47% of your wagers over time, you can now estimate how much you can wager on each slot spin, table game hand, or roll of the dice. You’ll also need to consider how long you want to gamble during the session in question. This number will become your base wagering limit.
Without using a calculator and assuming you’ll lose the entire bankroll by the end of the session, a $75 bankroll would allow you to wager about $1 a spin over 2 hours of play. If your win-back rate goes higher than 47%, you’ll have the choice of playing longer or claiming net winnings or at least some of your bankroll back.
Rules to Follow to Maximize Your Enjoyment and Chances of Winning
With the goal of having fun and maybe winning, there are some other rules of thumb you can follow to help you meet your goals. Here are some of the most important rules of thumb you should follow:
- Take a cooling-off period if you get mired in a crazy losing streak
- Use a betting strategy like the Martingale system to help you manage your bankroll
- Pocket any winnings that exceed 150% of your starting bankroll
- Learn to play your game of choice properly
- Never ever chase losses by going over your bankroll limitations
Conclusion: You are now equipped with enough knowledge to up your gambling game. Good luck and remember, never gamble with more money than you can afford to lose.
