Being a winner in sports betting is not only about how to pick a winner, you also need to have some form of money management or else you will quickly end up broke!
What is Money management?
There are a lot of principles and formulas like Kellys Criterion, but we will try to keep it very simple. You can use money management for many things, for example as a tool to maximize your winnings, but the most important thing is to use money management to prevent you from ending up with no money at all.
Be sure to be able to collect your future winnings
Even if you are a 100% certain winner in the long run, you can of course have losing streaks. And what if the losing streak leaves you with nothing before it all adds up in the long run? You don´t get to collect you future winnings because you don´t have a bankroll left! A bankroll is a pot of money you have given yourself to play with during a period of time.
Always bet a certain % of your bankroll
If you always bet a certain % of your bankroll, you can never go broke. If you have a small bankroll of maybe £200, it might not be so exciting to bet 2% of your bankroll but you need to have some form of control over your money. If the bank roll is small, you can adjust the % to 5 or 7% but if your bankroll is £2,000.00, 2% is a fair percentage. This means there is a form of freedom in your betting behaviour but you need to have some level of responsibility.
It may be helpful to have three different levels depending on how confident you are about the outcome. If you are very confident maybe your % is 5. If it is just a standard bet for you perhaps the % should be 3. And a couple times every season when you are really confident or want to play with a higher amount, you may bet with 7% of your bankroll.
This methods and numbers are just examples trying to get you think about money management and the important thing is to have a form of strategy which includes money management, and then stick with it.
Discipline and some common mistakes
Discipline is everything in sports betting! Keep your discipline, and you will become a winner as this is something that lets many people down.
Betting too much on one event because you think the outcome is certain is a common mistake. The beauty of sport is that it can be unpredictable and this is why there are betting sites in the first place. If you stick to your rules about betting, you will be okay.
Do not chase your losses. Everyone suffers losing streaks, but do not increase your stakes in an attempt to try and win back your losses in a short space of time. That is a very bad idea and usually a recipe for ending up with no money at a faster rate than normal. Again, stick to your money management strategies.
When your bankroll is empty, it is empty. Don’t refill it with your rent money or your weekly shopping budget, wait until the next time your betting budget is available.
We have only scraped the surface of what money management is but hopefully we have opened your eyes a little bit. Find a strategy you like including some form of Money management and stick to it!
This is one of the most important bits of advice you will ever hear.
