In online sports betting, a bankroll is the amount of money held in an online sportsbook account that a bettor consistently draws upon to make new bets.
While any account balance could technically be considered a bankroll, the general implication of the term is that it’s a large or preset amount of money that’s used in combination with a bankroll management system.
Bankroll management is a critical skill to learn for successful sports bettors.
How Does a Bankroll Work in Betting?
After registering with a sportsbook, bettors are able to deposit money into their account and place wagers. The amount a bettor chooses to deposit becomes his bankroll.
Novice bettors sometimes elect to place bets for arbitrary amounts of money based on their gut feeling. However, many successful bettors recommend betting about 1% of overall bankroll on any given bet to maintain good bankroll discipline. This insulates bettors against wild swings in their account balance.
Bettors can scale up or down their unit percentage based on circumstances. For instance, a bettor might risk 0.3% of overall bankroll on prop bets or 2.5% on a bet they feel very strongly about.
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