Online casino gambling is usually exciting and fast-paced, and it’s extremely easy to get carried away by the thrill of chasing big wins. Indeed, most casino players focus more on chasing wins than protecting their funds. This short-term approach is quite risky, as it breeds irrationality, which in turn leads to bad decisions and further losses.
In this article, we will discuss why good bankroll management is the key to staying in the game longer. We will also look at the different ways you can protect your funds while still having fun at your favorite casinos.
Why bankroll management is crucial for online gamblers
Bankroll management essentially involves setting a limit on amount of money you are willing to lose at a casino and sticking to it regardless of results. This is the cornerstone of a successful online gambling ‘career’ as it means your losses are capped while your profits are not.
In simple terms, bankroll management calls for you to separate your gambling money from your everyday money. Apart from minimizing your potential losses, this separation helps to protect your mental health when you make big losses. It is easier to stay sane and relaxed if you know your huge loss on the poker game did not eat your rent money.
Top bankroll management strategies
Different types of players have different ways of managing their bankrolls, depending on levels of experience and available capital. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend taking extra caution for the first few years until you develop enough mental discipline to take higher risks. Below are some of the most effective bankroll management strategies for beginners and intermediate casino players:
Have a strict budget
The most basic rule of gambling is to risk only what you are willing to lose. This is especially important to remember, as online casino gambling is not only very addictive, but it is also open 24//7. Both of these factors make it extremely easy to get pulled into the habit of chasing losses and consequently losing track of time and money.
To protect your finances, set aside a budget for gambling, preferably after sorting out all your essential bills and putting away some savings. Thereafter, commit to stop playing if you lose the gambling capital. To make that easy, avoid logging into your casino account until you get the next paycheck.
Follow the 5% rule
Regardless of your level of experience, it is highly advisable to never risk more than 5% of your total bankroll on a single game or hand. This way, you can spread out your risks over more games, giving you more chances to win. Additionally, it means you do not burn through your funds too quickly during a losing streak.
For further protection, you may consider reducing your risk by half after every lose. For instance, say you have $100 in your account. In your first trade, you wager $5, which ends in a loss. In the next trade, wager $2.5, or half of the $5, and so on. You can return to risking the standard 5% after every win.
Take a break after a loss
No one likes losing, especially where money is involved. Most casino players try to recover their losses by increasing their risk or getting into more plays. Unfortunately, this often leads to even bigger losses and mental anguish.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend taking a break every time you lose a game to clear your mind and reset your emotions. The break can be anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours or even the entire day, depending on how much you lost. The idea is to prevent impulsive decisions that could worsen your losses and plunge you into a mental abyss.
Take advantage of the available bonuses
The easiest way to increase your bankroll and subsequently reduce the pressure on your personal money is to take advantage of bonus and promotion offers. The good thing is that most online casinos offer these bonuses, which typically range from deposit bonuses to cashback to no deposit bonuses.
Depending on the casino, you can get free spins or extra funds which you can use to play riskier games without the risk of blowing your personal funds. That said, most bonus and promotional offers come with stringent terms, especially if you wish to withdraw accrued profits. Be sure to read the terms and conditions of every bonus you accept, particularly the wagering requirements.
Track your results
It is hard to know if you are making progress in your bankroll management if you don’t have data to reference. As such, it is important to keep a journal of your plays, including the games you played, your wins and losses, and amounts wagered. This allows you to identify patterns in your play and which games are more profitable for you. Moreover, journaling helps you avoid impulsive decisions as it encourages you to reflect on your past results before entering new bets.
Setting up your bankroll
Setting up your gambling bankroll is usually the first step before you start playing at an online casino. It simply involves allocating and depositing money to your casino account. While this seems like a straightforward thing, most players lack the discipline needed to set up their bankrolls correctly. The end result is usually financial ruin. Here are our top bankroll builder tips to help you navigate the process:
- Only use disposable income – perceive gambling as a form of entertainment, like a night out – not as an investment – and budget accordingly.
- Figure out your playing time frames – before making a casino deposit, decide on the number of times you plan to gamble per week or per month. After doing so, divide your available funds by the number of sessions. For instance, if you have a gambling budget of $400 per month, divide it into four weekly deposits of $100 each. The $100 should be the maximum amount of money you gamble with in a given week, unless you grow your account by winning more. This way, you can keep playing throughout the month without depleting your budget and having to dip further into your pockets.
- Be careful with the payment methods you use – while there are countless methods you can use to fund your casino accounts, we strongly advise against using your personal M-Pesa account or credit cards. The former is too convenient, making it easier to make impulse deposits, while credit cards can lead to a debt spiral. Instead, consider using less convenient methods like cryptocurrencies, e-wallets or bank transfers.
- Play the long game – when setting up your bankroll, think about the long term. For one, consider your bankroll from an annual perspective and set yearly profit targets as well. You may, for instance, aim to increase your bankroll by 10-20% every year, after which you cash out or lock in your profits. While at it, remain flexible with your betting strategies and be open to lowering your risk or changing the games you play, depending on your win rate.
How to choose the best bankroll strategy basing on your style
Every player has their own style based on how their goals and understanding of the casino landscape. Your personal style of play will determine, to a large extent, the success of your bankroll management strategy. Below are some tips on how to choose the right approach based on your gambling style.
Casual player
If you are mostly playing for fun, without the delusions of becoming a millionaire from a few lucky plays, it is best to be conservative with your risk. That is, stick to small wagers, ideally 1% to 3% of your bankroll, so you can enjoy longer sessions and have more fun.
High roller
If you have a bigger bankroll, you are probably itching for the thrill of higher stakes and larger bets. In some cases, larger bets can give you much larger profits. However, there are always some risks involved, and you will want to keep your wagers below 5% of your total session bankroll. Also consider taking regular breaks in between plays to clear your mind.
Streak player
A streak player is a player who makes more aggressive plays during a winning streak and significantly lowers the risk during a losing streak. If you are this type of player, you should have a clear idea of how much you will increase or reduce your bets depending on your performance. For instance, you can increase your bets by 50% after a win and reduce them by 25% after a loss.
Common mistakes in bankroll management
Despite their good intentions, many online players find themselves making expensive mistakes during the course of managing their bankrolls. The most common of these is not setting a clear budget. This makes it easy to overspend and potentially develop a gambling addiction.
Another crucial mistake that most players, even the experienced ones, make is to overestimate winning streaks. Just like chasing losses is a problem, getting too confident during a winning streak can lead to bad decisions like dramatically increasing your wagers. Always remember that no matter how good your strategy is, gambling results are unpredictable, and a winning streak could end any time. As such, stick to your regular strategy even when things are going a little bit too well for you.
How to modify your bankroll during winning or losing streaks
Winning and losing are part and parcel of online gambling, and you need to adapt your bankroll strategy during each of these times to protect yourself. To start with, during a winning streak, you want to avoid getting carried away and increasing your bets beyond the normal range. Additionally, you should always bank at least 50% of your profits and continue playing with the remaining half of the profits. This helps you avoid giving it all back to the casino if your streak ends.
Losing streaks are mentally hard to handle, and you may be tempted to continue playing hoping to recover your losses, which usually leads to even more losses. We recommend lowering your bet sizes to about 1% of your bankroll if you make three successive losses to give yourself a little breathing space. It would also be a great idea to avoid trying to recover your losses in one go and instead aim for smaller, more manageable bets. Most importantly, get away from your screens every time you start feeling emotional after a loss. Emotional gambling always leads to bad outcomes.
FAQ
Casino bonuses and promotions give you additional funds to play with, increasing your bankroll. However, they almost always come with wagering requirements that you must meet before withdrawing any winnings and are therefore not “free ” money.
One sign that your bankroll management strategy is ineffective is if you are constantly exhausting your funds quicker than expected, which would indicate impulsive gambling. Another sign is if you do not have a clue of where your money is going, which means you do not have an up-to-date journal of your bets.
The best way to maintain consistency in live dealer games is to stick to a flat betting strategy. This involves wagering a constant percentage of your bankroll on each bet regardless of your outcomes. Do not overreact to individual wins and losses, as the volatile nature of these games means no round is like the other.
