How to Effectively Manage Your Online Casino Bankroll

Bankroll Management is a huge factor in all forms of gambling, as without it, it is almost impossible to achieve success. Casino gambling is no different and in some ways, knowing that there is a house edge inherent in the games, bankroll management takes on an extra premium.

Casino bankroll management is an important skill to have. It’s also the first skill you should develop if you want to have a good time at the casino. Otherwise you might end up in Vegas for several days with no money because you spent it all in the first couple of minutes.

In this article I discuss many aspects of bankroll management that you can apply when entering an online casino. I start with a look at how you might actually decide on a bankroll and put it into action. I then talk though some common mistakes that casino users make with their gambling bankroll. I finish by describing one way that your bankroll can receive a welcome boost and talk about ‘taking a shot’.

How Much? Deciding on a Bankroll

Whenever you make a deposit to a casino you might want to do it on a monthly basis, deciding at the start of the month how much you are willing to deposit. The amount that you choose should equate to how much you are willing to lose, although with good bankroll management you should find that it is very unlikely that you will actually lose the full amount. Now take that figure and divide it by the number of sessions you’ll want in the month. You might want to play 15 times in a month, so simply divide the bankroll by 15 and take that into each session.

Casino Session Management

Knowing how much you’ll take into a session is one thing, but managing the session is another. Many casino gamblers will simply take their chosen amount and continue playing until it is all gone, even if they have a particularly good run and are at one point well in profit. This is easily done even by the most experienced gambler, but there is a straightforward to avoid it. Look at how much money you have and then look at the particular casino game you are playing and work out a realistic staking plan.

Say, for example, you have $20 to use at a session of blackjack. You figure that you’ll play 2 hands a minute and want to play for half an hour, making for a total of 60 hands. Knowing the nature of blackjack, where each hand is almost a 50/50 shot, you’re going to win a lot of hands, so a realistic bet for each hand would be something like $1. If you do lose the full $20 in less than 60 hands you’ve been very unlucky and you’ll stop, but the chances are you’ll end up with somewhere between $10 and $30 at the end of the session.

Now, use the same $20 for betting on single numbers at roulette. If you were to bet $1 a go for 60 spins of the wheel, there is a very good chance you’d go broke after just 20 spins. In this example and at many higher variance games, you’ll need to use a smaller starting stake, maybe in the region of 30 cents a spin.

At the end of the session bank the money! If you do this every time, you are giving yourself a good shot of having more money than you started with at the start of the month.

Common Casino Bankroll Mistakes

The most common mistake in gambling is when a player chases their losses. This involves increasing the stake to try and claw back what you lost quickly and invariably leads to larger losses. The plan above has no deviation from the starting stake, so sticking to that will mean that you never chase your losses.

Many people talk about winning systems at a casino and one which I’ve heard repeated over and over as a winning one is the Martingale System. This requires you to double your stake each time you lose in the knowledge that you will win eventually and therefore always end up making a profit. However, a bad losing run can leave you in an incredible hole which you might not be able to claw yourself out of.

You might have noticed that ‘chasing your losses’ and the ‘Martingale staking plan’ are incredibly similar!

Boosting Your Casino Bankroll

Fortunately, winning isn’t the only way you can boost your bankroll. Virtually every online casino has a range of bonuses and offers and these really can make a difference. The biggest and best bonuses usually come when you initially sign up at a site and you should be sure to take full advantage. As an existing member of a site, keep a regular eye on the promotions page, as you’ll find offers such as free spins, loyalty reward points, competitions and leaderboards. Consider, a single free spin at a slot might give your bankroll a massive boost – so ensure you know exactly where this free money is.

Taking a Shot

Every gambler likes to take a shot from time to time, where they will have an oversized gamble, but so far in this article it looks like this is not an option. However, you can actually build ‘taking a shot’ into your bankroll management. Why not do it at the end of every winning month? Why not have a rule that every time you have a winning month that you’ll take a shot with 20% of the profit? This way ‘taking a shot’ won’t involve you risking all or the majority of your bankroll. Obviously, you won’t be doing this after a losing month, but should you really be going for it after a losing month anyway? You could also consider taking a shot with any bonus money that you indeed accrue.

Casino Bankroll Management Overview

Employing some kind of bankroll management in your casino gambling is never a bad thing. It gives you discipline, it ensures that your money will indeed go a lot further and it also gives you a very good chance of actually making some money. Use some common sense in your staking, ensure you divide your bankroll into realistic portions and never chase your losses and your casino experience will be a positive one.

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Bankroll management is one of the most critical aspects of any successful gamblers game. If you can’t effectively protect your money, you’ll quickly find yourself on the outside looking in.

Today, I’ll cover some of the keys of how to manage your slot machine bankroll. By the end of this article, you will have the tools to confidently step into the casino and know that you’ll live to fight another day.

What Is Casino Bankroll Management?

Most of you should know what a casino bankroll is. Your bankroll is money that you have set aside solely for the purpose of gambling.

Your bankroll shouldn’t be money that’s just sitting in your bank account until rent is due, or you need to pay a bill. My advice would be to set the gambling bankroll aside in a PayPal or separate checking account.

I see many gamblers who have $500 set aside for the car payment or other bills. They treat this money like a bankroll, even though it isn’t. That type of gambling can lead to undue stress at best and not being able to come up with the funds to pay your bills in the worst-case scenario.

So, if you have $100 in your dedicated bankroll, you can see the importance of growing your bankroll. Slowly developing a sustainable bankroll is a process. It takes determination and discipline to successfully maintain.

Bankroll management boils down to protecting your nest egg. The longer you can keep it in the black, the longer you’ll be able to play slots for real money.

You may even be able to grow it to such large proportions that you find yourself taking money from the bankroll to fund other interests or needs.

Sign up for the Players’ Card

Any casino you step into is going to offer some type of rewards program. VIP Clubs or Players’ Cards are a no-brainer for slots enthusiasts.

You simply insert the card into the slot machine, which tracks how much money you’re gambling per hour. It doesn’t account for how much you may win or lose.

The only consideration of your rewards is how much money you are putting into play. In turn, the casino provides you with comps or rebates based on a small percentage of the total.

A common misconception among gamblers is that machines will pay out slower when a players’ card is inserted. This couldn’t be farther from reality. The casino wants players on their machines.

Despite what most people believe, it really doesn’t matter to the casino if you win or lose. In fact, on a personal level, they may be genuinely happy when a player wins.

The casino understands that winners are good for business. They get excited, and fellow gamblers can’t help but follow in their excitement.

Casinos know that for every person that walks out the door a winner, countless others head home with empty pockets. Pay attention to special events and promotions put on by the casino also. At certain times during the week or month, casinos will offer double or even triple rewards.

Earning even a small rebate adds up over time and can do wonders for extending your bankroll.

Bet Size

The size of your individual bets will prove critical to maintaining your slot machine bankroll. Ideally, you should never wager with more than 2% to 3% of your total bankroll. This makes it incredibly difficult if you have $100 in your bankroll.

However, you have room to wiggle here. Most recreational gamblers will head to the casino and slap a $100 or a $20 in a slot machine.

They give little consideration to the size of their bankroll. This can lead to a poor casino experience if you don’t get extremely lucky.

If I take $100 to the casino, I plan to make it last as long as possible. Typically, my approach is to play nickel slots. If a game has 10 paylines, I’m betting at 0.5% of my allotted bankroll per spin. Incremental wins will largely offset any losses, and I’m able to enjoy my favorite games for hours without reaching $0.

Of course, the size of your bankroll will have the biggest impact on what denomination you can play slots. Indeed, the casinos often have the highest return to player or RTP on the larger denomination slots.

Walk Away

One of the biggest mistakes gamblers make is not knowing when to call it a day. They may get hours of play out of their daily bankroll but decide that they must be only a few more pulls away from hitting the jackpot. Before they know it, they are standing in line at the ATM.

Have you ever noticed the line at casino ATMs? Surely that many people can’t be heading to the casino with no cash on them.

Gambling Bankroll Management

At the end of the day, you’re responsible for the health of your bankroll. Take charge and have the discipline to walk away when you’ve reached your limits.

And please, stay away from the ATM. If you didn’t bring the cash with you, you likely shouldn’t be spending it on slot machines.

Use Big Wins to Grow Your Bankroll, Not Extend Your Session

Winning a big pot is why people play slots—Gamblers dream of hitting a huge jackpot and cashing in for thousands or even millions. You may never hit a million-dollar jackpot. You don’t need to win millions to have a flush bankroll, though.

Almost every slot player I know has tales of a big win. It’s what you do with these wins that can impact your bankroll the most.

Some gamblers will spend months saving money for their casino trip. They work diligently to build a decent bankroll before they ever leave home.

Online Casino Bankroll Management

Imagine you save up $500 that you plan to spend on gambling. That’s a decent bankroll, and you should be able to gamble for days on your favorite slot machine.

You settle in for a relaxing session and boom. You quickly win $1,000 on a huge win. You now have a critical decision to make. I see most players roll the dice with their winnings and flush it all away.

Live Poker Bankroll Management

I’m not saying this is wrong. You went to gamble. So, I’m all for gambling. But this isn’t the best bankroll management. A sensible plan would be to set aside at least half of the win for your bankroll. The fastest way to grow your gambling bankroll is by winning.

If you take 50% of substantial ($250) wins and put it towards your bankroll, you’ll be able to enjoy half of your winnings right there on the casino floor.

Better yet, you’ll be growing your gambling bankroll for the future. Keep in mind that you won’t have to gamble the other half at all. You can buy yourself a new toy that you’ve had your eye on.

The important thing is that you’re not allowing your bankroll to become stagnate. Using your wins to replenish your bankroll will go a long way to your long-term success as a gambler.

Slow Down

This seems obvious, but it’s easier said than done. The more feverishly you spin the reels, the quicker the house edge will become apparent.

Take a break after a winning spin. Spend a few minutes chatting up the cocktail server. Get up and explore the casino for 15 minutes. Anything you can do to slow the money from draining will suffice. I bet that the more time you can spend in the casino, the more you’re going to enjoy the overall experience.

You don’t need to repeatedly smash “spin” as soon as the reels come to a stop.

Bankroll Management Calculator

Conclusion

These principles are some of my favorite methods on how to manage your slot machine bankroll, but they aren’t the only tactics.

Bankroll Management Blackjack

Gamblers are extremely unique. No two of us are the same, and neither is our style of play.

Poker Bankroll Management Tournament

Whether you pick just one of these useful tips or completely overhaul your strategy, it will take patience and discipline on your part to see results.