Is saving some income for bankroll betting worth it?
The answer to that question really depends on your objective and it also depends on how deeply involved you are with sports. If you are a die-hard sports fan who is stats-driven —perhaps you play in multiple fantasy sports leagues or DFS—who goes beyond just casually watching games, then saving a few bucks to start a sportsbetting venture might be worth it.
The key is knowing how to manage your bankroll once you have one set up.
The first thing we should discuss is a couple of key misconceptions that people have about sportsbetting. First, successful sports betting is not about hitting it big on a specific game or set of games or events. The people who profit from sports wagering are playing a long game. They pick their spots wisely and only play where they feel they have a definitive advantage. This helps to reduce risk. Because what it comes down to is sustained winning and hitting a percentage that still allows for profit after the vigorish (bookie rake). Generally, this means if you are betting at the standard price of -110, you are returning $0.91 of winnings on every dollar risked. So, if you are winning 50% of the time, you are not breaking even but taking a loss. So, in most cases, you have to win around 54% of your wagers to turn a profit.
The second thing is a misconception about your opponent. You are not betting against the other team or league or sport. Also, you are not betting against other people; although that’s what betting industry propaganda would have you believe. You are betting against the betting lines set by the bookmaker, no one and nothing else. So, know your enemy.
Managing Your Betting Bankroll
The first thing you need to think of is how much you want to save up to invest in this venture. $1000.00 is generally a good number to start with. Once you have your bankroll amount determined and saved, you must manage it properly. This means no crazy-big bets. All successful businesses start with a plan, and if you want to profit, this no different.
Typically, one to three percent of your total bankroll is the unit size(bet amount) you’ll want to implement. So, if you have a one-thousand dollar bankroll, your bets should be no less than $10 and no more than $30. The reason for this is sustainability. It allows you to slowly build your bankroll, but sustain consecutive losses. Thirty dollars may not seem like much but think about it this way. If you create a plan to bet five games per week and you wager $100 per game, and have a bad week, losing all your plays, suddenly you only have half your bankroll left to work with. If you have another bad week, you might be out of business. So, stick to round-number unit sizes that fall between one and three percent of your bankroll.
Next: don’t bet willy nilly. Think about how much time you have to dedicate to your sports investing venture and use that to determine how many plays you make per day/week/month. Once you have decided on an appropriate amount of games to bet on, do not exceed that number. You need to be disciplined in this. The one exception is if, for example, you have set the parameter of betting 5 NBA games per week, but only found a clear edge against 4 betting lines, don’t force it; just bet the four games where you feel there is a definitive advantage.
As your bankroll steadily increases, you can increase your bet unit size. I like to wait until it gets to round numbers to keep it clean and save time with my bookkeeping. This leads me to the last thing. Be sure to track everything related to your expenses. Meaning, create spreadsheets for your plays and track the bet you made, the exact amount you bet, the exact amount you won or lost, the type of bet it was, and most importantly, a summarized reason of you placed the wager in the first place.
Tracking this information will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and help you to adjust your bankroll management and improve your chance of increasing profitability.
