Bankroll Management
Bankroll management is the single most-ignored aspect of sports betting and the single most-important. A profitable bettor with poor bankroll discipline goes broke; a break-even bettor with strong discipline survives indefinitely.
Define Your Bankroll
Your bankroll is money you can afford to lose entirely. It is not money you "need." It is not rent. It is not savings. Sports betting should be funded from discretionary money that, if it disappeared, would not change your life. If you cannot define that number cleanly, you do not have a bankroll; you have rent at risk.
Unit Sizing: 1-2%
A standard unit is 1-2% of your bankroll. With a $1,000 bankroll, a unit is $10-20. Most sharp bettors flatten units regardless of confidence. The temptation to "size up" on perceived locks is the most common bankroll killer. Variance happens; your "lock" loses, and now your 5-unit "best bet" has cost you 25% of bankroll.
Kelly Criterion (Used Carefully)
Kelly criterion calculates the mathematically optimal stake size given your perceived edge: stake % = (decimal odds × edge - 1) / (decimal odds - 1). Most professional bettors use a fractional Kelly (one-quarter or one-half) because overestimating your edge causes Kelly to overbet. Use our Kelly calculator below to model it.
Tracking and Drawdown
Track every bet. Every. Single. Bet. Date, sport, market, line, stake, result. Without records, you have no way to know whether you are profitable. Expect drawdowns; a 30% bankroll drawdown is normal for a profitable bettor in a bad month. A 50% drawdown should trigger a re-evaluation of your process.
Key Takeaways
- Your bankroll is money you can afford to lose entirely; not rent, not savings
- Flat 1-2% unit sizing beats variable sizing for most bettors
- Kelly criterion is mathematically optimal but only as good as your edge estimate; use fractional Kelly
- Track every bet; no records means no learning