Bankroll Management for Beginners

What Is a Bankroll – and Why It Matters

Your bankroll is the total amount of money you’ve set aside for gambling over a period (week, month or season). It’s not your rent, groceries, savings or emergency fund. It’s “fun money” that you can afford to lose without changing how you live.

Most people don’t think in bankrolls. They think in deposits: “I’ll just put another $50 on the card” or “Just one more trip to the ATM.” That’s how gambling stops being entertainment and starts being a problem.

With even a simple bankroll plan, you:

• Know exactly how much you’re comfortable losing in a week or month.
• Have pre-decided limits before emotions and “heat of the moment” kick in.
• Can enjoy big wins without chasing when you’re behind.

Bankroll vs. Budget vs. Session – Don’t Mix Them Up

It helps to separate your gambling money into three buckets:

• Bankroll: the total you’re willing to risk over several weeks or months.
• Budget: the amount you bring to a night, weekend or event.
• Session roll: what you actually sit down with at a table or in one online session.

Example:

• You decide your monthly bankroll is $400.
• You’re going to the casino twice this month, so you budget $200 per trip.
• On each trip, you break that into two sessions of $100 each.

If a session goes badly and you lose the $100, you’re done with that session. You don’t instantly reload “just this once”. If both sessions on that trip go badly, you’ve hit your trip budget.

How Much Should Your Bankroll Be?

There’s no magic number, but there is a simple test: if losing your bankroll would ruin your month, it’s too big.

Start by asking:

• How much could I lose this month and still pay all bills, save and live normally?
• How often am I planning to play? (Weekly? Only on trips?)
• Do I get more joy from higher stakes but fewer sessions, or lower stakes but more sessions?

Many casual players end up in a healthy range if they set:

• 1–3% of their monthly income as a gambling bankroll, or
• a fixed yearly amount that they’re okay seeing go to zero as “entertainment spend”.

Rule-of-Thumb Bankroll Sizes

These are rough guidelines for casual players who want to avoid “wipeout in one night”:

• For low-stakes slots / roulette: at least 50–100× your usual bet size.
• For blackjack / baccarat / pass-line craps: 40–80× your usual bet size.
• For sports betting: a bankroll equal to at least 50–100 times your typical bet.

So if you like betting $5 at a time on blackjack, a bankroll of $200–$400 makes a huge difference compared with “I’ve got $60 and we’ll see what happens.”

Pick a Unit Size (1–2% Rule)

Once you’ve picked a bankroll, you need a unit size – your standard bet. A simple, time-tested rule is:

Example: your bankroll is $500.

• 1% of $500 = $5. You could use $5 as your base unit.
• 2% of $500 = $10. This is about as aggressive as a casual player should go.

If your bankroll is smaller or you want longer sessions, go lower: 0.5% per bet is perfectly fine (that would be $2.50 units on a $500 roll).

You can sometimes go a bit higher than 2% for very low-volatility bets, but staying within the 1–2% range keeps your risk of “busting” much lower. If you want to understand the math behind this, check out our Ultimate Guide to Bankroll Management for the full risk of ruin explanation.

Set Simple Session Rules (Stop-Loss & Stop-Win)

Bankroll management fails not because the math is wrong, but because people ignore their own limits in the heat of the moment. That’s why it helps to write down a few simple session rules.

Before you start a session, decide:

• Session roll: how much of your bankroll you’re bringing to this session.
• Stop-loss: the maximum you’re willing to lose this session.
• Stop-win: a realistic profit target that you’re happy to walk away with.
• Time cap: how long you’ll play before taking a break, regardless of results.

Example Session Plan

Let’s say:

• Your total bankroll for the month is $400.
• You’re going to the casino twice, so you budget $200 per trip.
• On this trip, your first session roll is $100.

You might set:

• Unit size: $5 bets at blackjack and on even-money games.
• Stop-loss: if you lose the full $100, the session is over.
• Stop-win: if you’re up $60–$80, you’ll strongly consider cashing out.
• Time cap: 90 minutes, then a 20-minute break even if you’re having fun.

Sticking to these rules removes a lot of the “should I keep going?” stress mid-session.

Avoid Chasing Losses

Chasing losses is when you increase your bet sizes because you’re behind and want to “get even”. It’s the fastest way to break any bankroll plan.

Common chasing patterns:

• “I’ll double my bet until I win one hand, then I’ll be back to even.”
• “I’ll just put it all on this one game and that will fix the night.”
• “I’ll reload one more time – I can’t quit on a downswing.”

In reality:

• Losing streaks happen even in fair games; in casino games with a house edge, they’re baked in.
• Doubling your stakes increases the size of a possible disaster, not the chance of a miracle.
• If you’re frustrated or angry, your decision-making is worse, not better.

Good bankroll management assumes that some sessions will simply be losing sessions – and that’s okay. The goal is to lose at a level that doesn’t hurt your real life.

Adjusting Your Bankroll by Game Type

Different games hit your bankroll differently. Two key ideas:

• House edge: how much the game takes from you in the long run.
• Volatility: how wild the swings are along the way.

Very roughly:

• Blackjack, baccarat, pass-line craps – lower house edge, lower volatility if you use basic strategy and simple bets.
• Roulette, some table side bets – medium house edge, can be quite swingy.
• Slots, high-odds parlays – higher house edge, very high volatility.

The more volatile the game, the more conservative you should be with:

• Your unit size (smaller bets relative to bankroll).
• Your session roll (don’t take your entire bankroll to a high-volatility game).
• Your expectations (long dry spells and sudden spikes are normal).

For more detail on how each game treats your money, see our House Edge by Game guide.

If You Bet on Sports: Think in Units

Sports bettors usually talk in units instead of dollars. A unit is just a standard bet size, usually 0.5–2% of your bankroll.

Example:

• Your sports betting bankroll is $1,000.
• You decide 1 unit = 1% of bankroll = $10.
• Most of your bets are 1 unit, some are 0.5 units, and rare “strong opinions” might be 2 units.

This makes it much easier to manage risk:

• You’re less tempted to suddenly fire 10× your normal size on a hunch.
• You can track your results in units, which tells you if you’re actually winning over time.

Our deeper dive on this lives in the sports section: Sports Betting Bankroll 101.

When to Reduce Stakes or Take a Break

Bankroll management isn’t just about numbers. It’s also about knowing yourself.

Consider lowering your stakes or taking a complete break if:

• You’re gambling with money that was meant for something else (bills, savings, debt payments).
• You find yourself hiding losses from people close to you.
• You keep breaking your own stop-loss or budget rules.
• Your mood is heavily tied to wins and losses.

Gambling should feel like paying for a night out, a concert or a hobby: fun if it goes well, still acceptable if it doesn’t. If it feels heavier than that, it’s time to step back.

You can find practical steps and support resources in our Responsible Gambling guide.

Quick Summary

You don’t need a complicated system to manage your bankroll well. Start with:

• Pick a monthly or seasonal bankroll that you can afford to lose completely.
• Pick a standard unit size (0.5–1% of that bankroll per bet).
• Set session rules: stop-loss, stop-win and time limit.
• Write your rules down in a note on your phone before you deposit anywhere.
• Use the tools on our Calculators page to sanity-check big bets or parlays.

When in doubt, scale stakes down, not up. A smaller bet you’re comfortable with is always better than a “big shot” that keeps you up at night.