On this page: How Does It Work? Rules Maximum size of bankroll Self-control Don’t get carried away by a winning streak Example FAQs Most punters will gamble online without paying much thought to the nature of the industry they are interacting with. If they win a bet, they are far more likely to reinvest the winnings plus an additional stake into a new wager than they are to consolidate and make a reasoned decision about what to do next. This is because bookmakers – like all businesses – are built around trying to make money. This is done by getting customers to continually make wagers until they eventually lose, netting the company a profit in the process.This is done by incentivising additional gambling and tempting punters to risk their money. Incentives can be overt promotional schemes that players will see as a notification on their account, or they can be as subliminal as the layout of the site itself. Because of this constant impetus to continue recklessly gambling, most punters will lose more money than they win in the long run, eventually emptying their bankroll. So it is that in sports betting money management can be a constant struggle. However, customers that properly manage their money can expect to see far greater profits and minimise their losses. This is known as ‘bankroll management’.Bankroll management is a large component of gambling responsibly, as it mitigates the impact that losses can have on a customer’s overall financial well-being. Problem gamblers will oftentimes forgo basic necessities in order to spend the money on gambling instead and even casual punters can in the heat of the moment sometimes spend crucial funds on wagers that make little sense. Not practising good bankroll management can quickly lead to mounting losses both monetarily and psychologically.How Does It Work?Although it may at first seem simplistic, there is far more to sports betting bankroll management that merely keeping an eye on the amount of cash that is building up (hopefully) in your betting account. Firstly, before even depositing money into a new account, there are certain factors that need to be taken into consideration. Foremost amongst them is how big the amount of money being deposited is relative to the gambler’s monthly earnings. Whilst committing a large portion of their salary is a bad idea from a financial planning perspective, it more relevantly means that the punter will not be able to make objective decisions when placing bets, due to the amount of pressure there will be to succeed.Secondly, even if they are gambling with a sensible amount of money, the punter will still quickly lose any winnings if they go about it in a haphazard manner. Because of this, they need to impose some well-thought-out conditions on the way in which they are going to gamble and approach the activity with a plan. In order for an individual to come up with a plan that suits them, the concept of bankroll management must first be broken down into its constituent parts.