Bankroll management: how much should you stake?
Sport Predict · 1 min read
The single biggest difference between people who enjoy betting for years and people who burn out quickly is not picking winners. It is how they manage their money.
Set a bankroll
Your bankroll is the money you set aside for betting and nothing else. It should be an amount you could lose completely without it affecting your bills, savings or mood. Never top it up from money meant for anything else.
Use level stakes
The simplest approach is to stake the same small amount on every bet, typically 1–2% of your bankroll. With a £500 bankroll that means £5–10 a bet. Even a run of ten losers, which happens to every bettor, then costs only a small part of your bankroll.
Adjust for confidence, carefully
Some bettors stake slightly more on their strongest opinions, for example 1 unit normally and 2 units on the rare high-confidence pick. Keep the range narrow. Big swings in stake size are how short losing runs become disasters.
Keep records
Write down every bet: date, match, market, odds, stake and result. After a hundred bets you will know your real hit rate and return, which is far more useful than how a winning streak felt. This is exactly why we publish our own track record.
Avoid the classic mistakes
- Chasing losses with bigger stakes.
- Betting more after a win because you feel lucky.
- Large accumulators that look tempting but rarely land.
- Betting on matches you know nothing about just to have action.
If betting stops being fun, take a break. Our responsible gambling page lists free support services.