What Is a Bankroll?

Your bankroll is the total amount of money you have specifically set aside for sports betting. This is not your rent money, your savings, or your grocery budget. It is a separate pool of funds that you can afford to lose entirely without affecting your daily life.

This distinction is critical. When you bet with money you cannot afford to lose, every loss creates emotional pressure that leads to poor decisions — chasing losses, increasing bet sizes, and abandoning your strategy. A dedicated bankroll removes that pressure and lets you make rational, disciplined bets.

How to Set Your Starting Bankroll

There is no universal right answer for how much your bankroll should be. It depends on your financial situation and your goals. Here are some guidelines:

  • Recreational bettors: Start with an amount you would be comfortable spending on entertainment over a few months. For many people, this is somewhere between $200 and $1,000.
  • Serious hobbyists: If you plan to bet regularly and track your results, $1,000 to $5,000 gives you enough runway to handle losing streaks without going bust.
  • Aspiring professionals: Larger bankrolls of $5,000 or more allow you to bet meaningful amounts while keeping your individual bets at a safe percentage of the total.
The golden rule: Never bet with money you cannot afford to lose. If losing your entire bankroll would cause financial hardship, you are betting too much. Scale down until the amount feels like genuine entertainment money.

Unit Sizing: The Foundation of Bankroll Management

Once you have a bankroll, the next step is defining your unit size. A unit is the standard amount you wager on a single bet. Expressing bets in units rather than dollar amounts makes it easier to track performance, compare results, and maintain consistency regardless of your bankroll size.

The 1-5% Rule

The most widely recommended approach is to set your unit size between 1% and 5% of your total bankroll. Most professional bettors and serious handicappers use 1-3% as their standard unit. Here is how it works in practice:

  • $1,000 bankroll at 2% unit size: Your standard bet is $20
  • $2,500 bankroll at 2% unit size: Your standard bet is $50
  • $5,000 bankroll at 1% unit size: Your standard bet is $50
  • $10,000 bankroll at 3% unit size: Your standard bet is $300

Why this range? It comes down to mathematics. Even the best sports bettors in the world experience long losing streaks. A bettor who wins 55% of their spread bets (which is very good) still has a meaningful chance of losing 10 or more bets in a row over the course of a season. If each of those bets was 10% of their bankroll, they would be wiped out. At 2% per bet, a 10-bet losing streak costs only 20% of the bankroll — painful but survivable.

Choosing Your Percentage

Where you land within the 1-5% range depends on several factors:

  • 1% units: Best for conservative bettors, those with smaller bankrolls they want to protect, or anyone new to structured betting. This is the safest approach.
  • 2-3% units: The sweet spot for most bettors. It provides enough action to make betting engaging while protecting against variance. This is what most professional bettors use as their baseline.
  • 4-5% units: Higher risk, acceptable only for bettors with a proven track record and high confidence in their selections. Even at this level, a bad week can set you back significantly.
Pro tip: If you are unsure, start at 1-2%. You can always increase your unit size later as you build confidence and track record. It is much harder to recover from going too aggressive too early.

Flat Betting vs. Variable Staking

Once you have a unit size, you need to decide how strictly to apply it. There are two primary approaches: flat betting and variable staking.

Flat Betting

Flat betting means wagering the exact same amount on every single bet, regardless of how confident you feel. If your unit is $50, every bet is $50 — no exceptions.

Advantages of flat betting:

  • Simplicity: No decisions to make about bet sizing, which eliminates one source of error.
  • Emotional protection: You cannot overbet on games you feel strongly about (which is when bettors are most likely to be overconfident).
  • Consistent tracking: Easy to measure your win rate and ROI when every bet is the same size.
  • Beginner-friendly: Removes the temptation to increase bets after a win or chase losses after a bad day.

Flat betting is the approach most experts recommend for beginners and recreational bettors. It is not exciting, but it works.

Variable Staking

Variable staking means adjusting your bet size based on how confident you are in each selection. For example, you might bet 1 unit on a play you feel decent about, 2 units on a strong play, and 3 units on your best play of the week.

Advantages of variable staking:

  • Maximizes edge: If you genuinely have better insight on some games, putting more money on those games increases your return.
  • More engaging: The process of rating your confidence adds another layer to the handicapping process.

The risks, however, are significant:

  • Overconfidence bias: Most bettors overestimate their edge on their "best" plays. Studies consistently show that people are poorly calibrated when rating their own confidence.
  • Increased variance: Larger bets on some games means bigger swings in your bankroll.
  • Emotional interference: It is easy to justify a 5-unit play because you "feel great" about it, when in reality you are just chasing a loss from earlier in the day.
Our recommendation: Start with flat betting. After at least 500 tracked bets, if your results show a genuine edge, you can consider a tiered system with a maximum of 3 unit levels (1u, 1.5u, and 2u). Never exceed 5% of your bankroll on any single bet, regardless of confidence.

Tracking Your Bets

You cannot manage what you do not measure. Every serious bettor tracks their bets, and you should too. Tracking allows you to identify what is working, what is not, and whether your overall approach is profitable.

What to Track

At minimum, record these fields for every bet you place:

  • Date of the bet
  • Sport and event (e.g., NFL: Chiefs vs. Bills)
  • Bet type (spread, moneyline, total, prop, parlay)
  • Selection (e.g., Chiefs -3.5)
  • Odds at the time you placed the bet
  • Stake (dollar amount or units)
  • Result (win, loss, push)
  • Profit/Loss for the bet

More advanced tracking might include the sportsbook used, the closing line, your reasoning for the bet, and whether the bet was live or pre-game.

Key Metrics to Monitor

Once you have enough data (ideally 200+ bets), start reviewing these performance metrics:

  • Win rate: What percentage of your bets win? For standard -110 spreads, you need above 52.4% to break even.
  • ROI (Return on Investment): Your total profit divided by your total amount wagered, expressed as a percentage. An ROI of 3-5% over a large sample is considered strong.
  • CLV (Closing Line Value): How do the odds you bet compare to the closing odds? Consistently beating the closing line is the single best predictor of long-term profitability.
  • Profit by sport/bet type: Are you profitable on NFL spreads but losing on NBA totals? This analysis helps you focus on your strengths.

When to Adjust Your Bankroll

Your bankroll is not a static number. As it grows or shrinks, your unit size should adjust accordingly. There are two main approaches:

Fixed Units

With fixed units, you set your unit size once and do not change it until you make a deliberate decision to reassess. If you start with a $2,000 bankroll and a $40 unit, you continue betting $40 even if your bankroll grows to $3,000 or drops to $1,500.

This is the simplest approach and works well for recreational bettors.

Percentage-Based (Dynamic) Units

With dynamic units, you recalculate your unit size periodically based on your current bankroll. If your 2% unit was $40 and your bankroll grows to $3,000, your unit becomes $60. If it drops to $1,500, your unit becomes $30.

This approach has a mathematical advantage: when you are winning, your bets grow to capitalize on your larger bankroll. When you are losing, your bets shrink to protect what remains. Most professionals use some version of this approach, typically recalculating weekly or at the start of each month.

Common Bankroll Management Mistakes

Even bettors who understand these concepts in theory often make mistakes in practice. Here are the most common ones to avoid:

1. Chasing Losses

After a losing day, the temptation to double your next bet to "get back to even" is powerful. This is one of the fastest ways to go broke. A losing streak of 5 bets at $50 costs you $250. If you double to $100, then $200, then $400 trying to recover, you can destroy your bankroll in a single afternoon. Stick to your unit size no matter what happened yesterday.

2. Betting Too Large a Percentage

New bettors frequently bet 10-25% of their bankroll on a single game because the dollar amount "feels small." A $200 bet on a $1,000 bankroll feels reasonable until you lose four in a row and suddenly have $200 left. Keep it at 1-5%.

3. Not Having a Separate Bankroll

If you are betting from your checking account with no defined bankroll, you have no framework for discipline. You do not know if you are up or down, what percentage you are betting, or when to stop. Set a specific bankroll, even if it is small.

4. Ignoring the Long Term

Sports betting is a long-term activity. Judging your strategy based on a single weekend or even a single week is meaningless. Variance dominates small samples. You need hundreds of bets before you can draw any meaningful conclusions about your ability. Be patient and trust the process.

5. Adding Money After Going Broke

If you lose your entire bankroll, the correct response is to take a break, analyze what went wrong, and decide whether to try again with a smaller, more conservative bankroll. The incorrect response is to immediately deposit more money while you are emotional and frustrated. If you find yourself repeatedly reloading, it may be time to reassess whether sports betting is the right hobby for you.

Remember: The goal of bankroll management is not to maximize your profits on any single bet. It is to ensure you stay in the game long enough for your edge (if you have one) to play out over hundreds and thousands of bets. Survival comes first. Profit follows.

A Simple Bankroll Management Plan

If you want a clear, actionable system to start with today, here it is:

  • Step 1: Set aside a bankroll you can afford to lose. Start with whatever feels comfortable.
  • Step 2: Set your unit size at 2% of your bankroll.
  • Step 3: Use flat betting — every bet is 1 unit.
  • Step 4: Track every bet in a spreadsheet or tracking app.
  • Step 5: Review your results monthly. Recalculate your unit size based on your current bankroll.
  • Step 6: After 500+ tracked bets, evaluate your ROI and decide if any adjustments are warranted.

This plan is not glamorous, but it is the foundation that every successful bettor builds on. Master the basics, and everything else becomes easier.