The idea of landing a big win at the casino is glamorous. We’ve seen the movies where our hero wins a massive cash stack by striking it lucky on roulette or blackjack, with casino customers trying to replicate this strategy in real life when they place their bets.
If you are not paying attention to bankroll management while playing casino, you are already disadvantaged.
While casino bankroll management might sound something more appropriate for an accountant, the bottom line is that punters would win far more in the long run if they were effectively able to manage how much they gambled on casino games.
Bankroll management doesn’t need a calculator, but it does need honesty, and it’s always great to have a plan when it comes to casino play. You might assign a certain amount of money, such as $100 for a particular casino session, and you should therefore think about how much you are going to spend per bet, the frequency of bets, and the odds about each of your casino bets winning.
What’s a Bankroll?
It’s always good to start with the basics when it comes to playing online casinos, such as slots. We all know that you need to deposit money into your casino account before you can start wagering. However, a bankroll could either be:
the entire casino balance that you have at that given time
a percentage of this balance, depending on how much you’re willing to risk for the next online casino session.
Let’s say you’ve taken your pick from the many casino games available, and many customers will choose slots games to generate plenty of excitement. Perhaps you decide to stake a total of $50 at the latest slot game release and allocate yourself a specific time limit for the session’s length. After all, any winnings from playing slots are immediately credited to your casino balance, making bankroll management a little more tricky.
Alternatively, you might decide to spend $100 at the blackjack table and bet $2 per hand, which ultimately means you would bet a maximum of 50 hands. At the same time, there might even be a strategy where you double down on some hands to maximize your chances of winning. Starting with a casino staking plan is effective bankroll management and means you are operating within parameters.
Ground Rules for Managing a Bankroll
Determine the Amount You Can Spend on Gambling
The best piece of betting advice is to ``only gamble what you can afford to lose.``
It doesn’t mean you should play casino games with the intention of losing, and hopefully, you will win at an online casino regularly. However, there is always the risk that you could lose all the money you are staking irrespective of bankroll management, and you should always be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
If you enjoy playing slots and want to play these types of casino games on a regular basis, then you need to decide how much you are going to stake for each visit. If you have twenty slots sessions during a month, it might be that you want to stake a smaller amount each time compared to visiting an online casino five times a month.
While there’s the obvious chance of winning money when you gamble at an online casino, you should always budget for the possibility that you will lose at any given time. Think of it like going shopping, although, with an online casino, you are paying for an entertaining experience and the possibility (not probability) that you will make some money.
Never Play More Than You Can Afford to Lose
One of the biggest rookie mistakes is to stake too much at an online casino when they pay the first visit.
Perhaps a newbie has been sucked in by a casino deposit bonus, although poor bankroll management can often mean that players start off on the wrong foot, and that can lead to chasing losses, which is never a good look.
Playing online casino games for more than you can afford to lose is a bit like maxing out your credit card when you go shopping without the means to pay the bill at the end of the month. It’s vital that you stay disciplined and treat playing casino games as a leisure pursuit rather than a quick or easy way to make money. Effective bankroll management should help you to stay on the straight and narrow – you have to remember that there’s always a house margin factored into any casino game that you play.
Determine Your Goal in the Game
In life, it always helps to have a plan. This certainly applies when you visit an online casino where there’s an unbelievable range of options:
poker
roulette
baccarat
blackjack and others.
Although you should be clear at what casino games you intend to play and how this might look from a bankroll management point-of-view. As a general rule of thumb, customers should only risk 1% of their overall bankroll for that casino session, especially if they play casino slot games.
When playing slots, it might be that you set yourself a particular amount to win. Say you start off playing Mega Moolah with a bankroll of $100 and achieve winnings of $200. You might decide that it was the original target and walk away from the online casino, having doubled your money. Sometimes the easiest thing is to get greedy and try to treble or even quadruple your cash, although the Return to Player for any slot game is always less than 100%.
Tracking Funds in the Account
The vast majority of online casinos are now obliged to display the net total when it comes to deposits made into your casino account. It’s important to be aware of what you’re depositing into your account for any given month and the amount you are also withdrawing. You might even want to drill down into the casino games that are being played and your relative successes and failures with each type of game.
Never spend more than you can afford.
It’s easy to get lost when it comes to a lack of bankroll management strategy and simply live for the moment, hoping this will be the occasion where you strike it lucky. However, if you set yourself a monthly budget for how much you are prepared to spend playing casino games and hit that threshold, then it’s time to log out and wait until the next month before starting over.
There’s No Place For Emotion in Gambling
The best casino players are the oneswho can detach themselves emotionally from the casino game that they are playing. They don’t punch the air when they land a big winning return, nor do they thump the table when they narrowly miss out on a big win. The wise gambler realizes that no matter what strategy you deploy when playing online casino, the result is still down to luck.
Don’t lose control of yourself after you win.
It doesn’t mean you won’t get an adrenaline rush after winning against the house, and it’s a fantastic buzz to beat the house at slots, roulette, or blackjack. However, keeping a cool head is important, and that means sticking to the original staking plan, even if you happen to be on a winning run.
Withdraw the Funds Received
We’re going to let you into a little secret. Online casinos don’t want customers to make a withdrawal. They can’t stand to see players who have effective bankroll management to the extent where they will make a deposit into their casino account on a given day. And also make a withdrawal, especially if the latter is a bigger figure, which means a profit for the player concerned.
Practice funds withdrawals after casino winnings.
Clicking on that “Withdraw” button often seems like a difficult thing to do, but this is flawed psychology of the highest order! You are putting money back into your bank account or e-wallet account, thus showing that you are in control of your finances and that making a deposit into your casino account doesn’t mean that you are consigned to the fate of eventually losing that amount.
Making a regular withdrawal from an online casino account is an example of excellent bankroll management. Just like a golfer practices the art of sinking a ball into the hole, you should finesse the whole method of returning funds from your casino account to your personal account. Sometimes you might be cutting your losses in the process, although it’s preferable to keep half your bankroll for a casino session than lose the entire amount.
