Casino Bankroll Management Guide

Proper casino bankroll management will help you become a smarter, better, happier gambler if you learn how to do it just right. It requires some planning, diligence, and self-control, but doing the work beforehand will pay off with a more enjoyable gambling experience on the whole. And you can use bankroll management both in land-based casinos and at top gambling websites.

Many people think about gambling as a fun, carefree experience, and it should be like that to a certain extent. But you also have to take responsibility when there is real money at stake so that you don’t get carried away and suffer financial hardship. Bankroll management in casinos comes into play as a way to come away with a better gambling bottom line.

In this casino bankroll management guide, we’ll take you through everything you need to know to get better at practicing good casino bankroll management. We’ll tell you about the various techniques and strategies that you can use to be more effective at keeping your bankroll under control, while still committing enough to gambling so that you can both play for a while and potentially win big. In addition, we’ll answer some of the most popular questions about bankroll management for casinos, both land-based and real money online casinos.

What Is Casino Bankroll Management?

If you’ve ever been to a casino (or visited an online gambling site), you might have practiced bankroll management without even realizing it. For instance, maybe you’ve been to the casino and said the following statements to either yourself or one of the people that went with you:

• “I’m bringing $50 worth of cash, and if I lose that, I’m done.”
• “I’m going to play the penny slots because I don’t want to bust out early.”
• “I think I’ll play blackjack because I know that I can play that for a while with just a little bit of money.”

All of these statements are examples of solid casino bankroll management. The basic definition of bankroll management is that it is any effort made to pay attention to the money that you’re gambling on various games. It also usually entails some sort of plan to make sure that the money that you’re spending doesn’t go too far beyond your comfort level.

But when you’re in a casino, surrounded by crowds and flashing lights and lots of noise, you can easily lose track of what you’re doing with your money.

For those reasons, it’s important that you learn some tips for bankroll management in land-based casinos and online casinos, especially if you want to gamble on a regular basis. Casino gambling is all fun and games until it suddenly isn’t anymore. But you can ensure that it stays enjoyable and never deteriorates to a harmful level with some basic bankroll management skills in your arsenal.

How to Manage Your Casino Gambling Bankroll

When we talk about a bankroll in terms of gambling, we’re referring to the money you are using to gamble. It’s pretty easy to lose track of it if you’re not careful. But if you follow these techniques, you should be able to keep it under control with no problem whatsoever.

Set a Budget

This is the number one tip we can impart to you. It’s incredibly simple, yet a lot of gamblers ignore it and pay for it later. That’s why it’s a step you should take even before you get to the casino or log onto any gambling website. In that way, you can do it calmly and with all your wits about you.

Simply decide beforehand how much you can afford to lose in the casino. This amount should be something that falls well within your disposable income limit. You should also keep in mind how much you might need if you’re going to be gambling for several days in a row. For example, if you’re on vacation in Las Vegas for a week, make sure to divvy up the amount amongst all your planned sessions.

From there, the other key to this part of bankroll management is to stick to the budget that you set. If you set a budget and ignore it once you get to gambling, it’s a pretty pointless exercise. It can be hard not to get caught up in the rush, especially when others are winning around you, but it’s important to be able to walk away when you’ve hit your budget limit.

Bank Your Wins

If you gamble enough, you’ll eventually become aware of a term known as “the house edge.” The house edge is essentially the amount that you can be statistically expected to lose to the casino based on the odds of the games that you’re playing. Various games have different house edges, higher and lower, but they are all pretty much working against you and preventing you from winning over the long haul.

But in a short span, a little luck and some strategy can help you win. And if you keep playing with money that you won, that luck is likely going to turn against you. And you’ll have to give back all of your winnings. But you can stop that process if you bank your winnings at the right time.

One way to do this is to bank your winnings once you hit a certain limit. Let’s say that you have a $100 budget, and you tell yourself beforehand that you will bank it if you get ahead by $50. That means you can still play with the $100 with which you started. But if you lose that, you’ll still have the $50 you banked as a consolation. You’ll cut some of the house edge out by doing so.

Do Not Chase Your Losses

The psychology of gambling can cause you to make some bad mistakes with your casino bankroll management. Here’s a statement that may sound familiar:

“I’m down $200, but all I need is a hot streak to get it back. Let me just go to the cash machine and win it all back. Besides, I’m due.”

There are a number of problems with this situation:

• You broke the first rule of casino bankroll management, which is to set a budget and stick to it.
• You’re never “due.” Just because you’ve been losing, it doesn’t mean you’ll immediately start winning. In most cases, you’d need to play thousands of hands, rounds, or spins before the statistics start to even out your luck in that manner.
• When you’re playing from behind like that, you tend to play in a more desperate fashion. That could mean raising your bets or going for more long-shot plays. In that way, the losses can actually start happening at a much faster rate.

Chasing losses is the number one blunder when it comes to casino bankroll management. You have to be able to take your lumps every now and then and accept that not every gambling session is going to be a positive one. As a matter of fact, statistically, they are more likely to be negative ones.

By avoiding this pitfall and sticking to your budget while banking wins, you’re actually ruining the casino’s best-laid plans. They are counting on people making foolish decisions when they’re behind. If you can be sensible and take the bad sessions with the good, you’ll be much closer to break-even level than those who chase losses constantly.

Placing the Right Bets

This part of the equation in this casino bankroll management guide is actually one area where we would suggest a bit of moderation on both sides of the coin. Obviously, making bets that are too high can be problematic. You might end up losing your intended bankroll in a hurry, which can tempt you into breaking your budget just so you can start gambling again.

If you keep your bets too low, you might get bored with your results since you’ll be less likely to see much in the way of substantial monetary gains. That could lead you to raise your bets significantly in response, which gets us back to the first problem of betting too high.

One way to avoid this and find the betting level that’s not too high or too low—the Goldilocks level, so to speak—is to do a little math. Estimate how long you want to play and how many rounds of the game you intend to play that can be squeezed in during that time. Then, divide the money you have by the number of rounds, and you’ll get a betting level that you can handle with no problem. You wouldn’t go over budget even if you lost every single round (which isn’t likely).

Choosing the Right Game for You

The key part of this sentence is the words “for you.” No two gamblers are alike. What you want out of a session just might be completely different from the person standing next to you.

As a result, you should try to answer the following questions before you start playing at a casino or an online gambling site:

• How long do you want to play?
• What kind of bankroll will you bring, and do you want to play for high stakes?
• Do you want the chance to win a lot in a small amount of time?
• Are you looking for a game that allows you to play for a long time on a small bankroll?
• Are you planning to be a regular, and are you looking for the game that brings you the highest potential for winnings over the long haul?

Once you answer these questions, you’ll know what you should be seeking out of the casino games available. You should also familiarize yourself with the following concepts:

• Payback Percentage: This is the amount of money you can statistically expect to get from your bankroll after playing a game for a long time. Payback percentage is the flipside of the house edge, and it is measured against a baseline of 100%. The closer it is to 100%, the lower the house edge and the more beneficial the game will be for long-term players.
• Volatility: Volatility refers to the way a bankroll will move up and down during play in terms of the severity and frequency of the rises and falls. High-volatility games will offer you the chance for quick, significant payback, but they will also put more stress on your bankroll in a hurry if you’re losing. Low-volatility games provide gamblers with more of an even keel as they play, meaning that jackpot-style paybacks are hard to come by but also that you can usually sustain your bankroll for a long time.

A little bit of research can tell you all about the volatility levels and payback percentages of all the top casino games. For example, blackjack is a low-volatility game and has a high payback percentage (if you play with expert strategy). Slots, on the other hand, generally have low payback percentages and higher volatility.

As a result, a jackpot-seeker might want to stick with slots. But those wanting to keep their bankroll afloat longer should choose blackjack. Once you identify what kind of gambler you are, your choices will become clear, and your bankroll management will become easier to handle.

Claim Free Online Gambling Bonuses

One way to practice excellent casino bankroll management is to raise your bankroll. And if you play online as opposed to going to a casino, you’ll find this process is much easier. That’s because online casinos are very aggressive in terms of offering bonuses to their players.

These bonuses can come in many different forms:

Welcome Bonuses

With welcome bonuses, real money online gambling sites will usually add a certain percentage of your initial deposit to your account that you can use to wager at the site.

Reload Bonuses

These bonuses are incentives for existing players at the website to keep depositing more money. Online casinos will typically offer a smaller version of their welcome bonuses for reload bonuses.

Cryptocurrency Bonus

Many sites want to do as much business as possible in the digital coins known as cryptocurrency. For that reason, they might add extra bonuses for anyone who makes a deposit in a cryptocurrency.

Free Spins or Games

With bonuses like these, you’re able to win money from the site without putting anything at stake. These bonuses are very popular with slot-based websites.

Cashback Bonuses

Occasionally, you’ll find cashback bonuses, which are extremely valuable. The online casinos that offer cashback usually do so as a reward for frequent play.

VIP Perks

The best casino sites will offer a program that allows you to earn more rewards the more you gamble at the site. This is the online version of a casino club card.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of the bonuses offered by online casinos come with some strings attached. You can’t just take these bonuses and cash them out. Instead, you have to gamble a certain amount on top of what you deposited. This is a process known as a “rollover.”

Yet even with rollovers in place, you are still getting a monetary boost for free when you claim one of these online gambling bonuses. That’s why you should try to take advantage of them whenever you can. It will make casino bankroll management much easier since you’ll have a little bit more breathing room in your gambling budget.

Practice Self-Control While Gambling

If you’re not gambling with a clear head, you’re running a higher risk of practicing ineffective casino bankroll management. You have to do whatever you can to ensure that you’re thinking clearly and rationally. It’s extremely easy to get caught up in the moment otherwise.
Here are some of the ways that will help you stay in control of your casino bankroll management:

• Should I bet more after I’ve lost Don’t drink alcohol or use any other substances that could impair your judgment. Most casinos will surround you with waitstaff offering drinks at your convenience, but you have to make sure you partake in moderation. Gambling while impaired can do some serious damage to your bankroll and could lead to some of the don’ts that we mentioned above (like chasing your losses).
• Notice the signs of gambling addiction. Most casinos will have listings for gambling addiction hotlines prominently placed in their signage so that you can determine and evaluate whether you might have a serious problem. Gambling addiction can be extremely damaging, not just in terms of bankroll management, but it can also destroy the lives of those suffering from it and those who love them.
• Keep your emotions in check. Even if you’re not impaired and have a clear head about you, the emotions of either a big win or a tough loss can take over and lead to poor decision-making at the casino. Try as much as you can to stay on the same level as you play, which can admittedly be very difficult in the pressurized environment of the casino.
• a lot to catch up because I’m bound to win?

On top of all that, you just need to have the self-control to stick to your budget. If you can do that, everything else will fall into place. It may be easier said than done, but you have to make an effort.

Keep Track of Wins and Losses

Have you ever heard how people who are trying to stay on a diet are told by experts to write down whatever they eat? That’s kind of the same premise with keeping track of wins and losses. Knowing where you stand in terms of your bottom line can help you from going too far.

In the heat of a gambling session, it can be difficult to keep track of the exact amount. But if you parcel out your budget for each game that you’re planning on playing, it will help. You can also just look at the counter on the machine or count your chips.

If you do a little bit of math, you’ll never unwittingly go over your budget. From there, you have to go back to our previous point about having the self-control to prevent going over your betting budget. It takes all of these skills in conjunction with each other to practice casino bankroll management at a high level.

Casino Bankroll Management FAQ

Conclusion

It’s hard to overestimate just how important casino bankroll management is for aspiring gamblers. Bankroll management, whether you’re practicing it at actual casinos or playing for real money online, can really make the difference between being a prudent gambler that gives themselves the best chance to succeed and being a reckless one actually hurting their chances. Gambling takes a lot of discipline, and that’s what bankroll management is all about.

We hope that we’ve given you a good foundation to keep your betting at a steady level where your bankroll doesn’t just disappear in a hurry. But more importantly, even if it does disappear, we hope that you know enough to take your losses in stride without feeling tempted to reach back into your bank account for more, potentially hurting your overall finances in the process. If you can take all of this advice to heart, you’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of safe and enjoyable gambling.