[Guide] How to manage your bankroll

Bankroll management is one of the key strategies at the heart of being a successful online roulette player. No matter how lucky you are, wagering too much of your available funds – your bankroll – at any one time means that your probability of losing it all approaches 100%. The technique of bankroll management allows you to ride out the variance – the ups and downs – inherent of any form of gambling. Whether you’re playing roulette, blackjack, or any other casino game, you need to be able to manage your bankroll successfully.

What is a bankroll?

A bankroll is quite simply a set amount of money that you have put aside purely for betting – be it on roulette, sports, or any other game of your choice. It should be completely separated from any other assets and is designed to weather streaks of bad luck.

If you don’t think that’s necessary, just think of betting on the flip of a coin. How likely is it that you’d guess wrong six times in a row? There’s actually a little more than a 1.5% chance that this will happen; that’s quite a significant number when we’re talking about our entire budget.

Managing your bankroll means to only bet a small amount of it at any one time, which allows you to get unlucky without losing your entire bankroll. For example, if you decide to set aside $500 as a bankroll you might only bet a maximum of $5 at a time on roulette. This means that even if that 1.5% chance of losing six 50:50 wagers consecutively happened to you, you’d easily have enough money behind to cover those losses and continue playing.

Depositing money to online casinos

Depositing money to online casinos is extremely easy. Players can use a variety of methods, such as direct bank transfer or cheque, ewallets like Skrill or NETELLER, or pre-paid cards such as paysafecard to deposit money securely to online casinos.

The advantage of the latter methods is that you don’t need to give any personal details or banking information to the casinos, which offers some people a level of comfort. Rest assured though that all online casinos we recommend are vetted and secure. The most direct and effective method of depositing from an online casino – not to mention withdrawing winnings – is via direct bank transfer. However, if you are more comfortable with ewallets or prepaid methods then most online casinos offer these options too.

What limits should I play?

This depends on how much your bankroll means to you and the games you wish to play. For example, if you earn a significant amount of money and you are not troubled with losing e.g. $250, then you could perhaps bet up to $25 at a time of a $250 bankroll. This carries a higher risk of ruin but if the money is easily replaced it is worth the potential for higher returns.

If $250 would be a blow, you might only bet 5% of your total bankroll at a time – perhaps even less. This would severely decrease the chance that you would need to redeposit, which you may be unable to do easily. How much money you carry in your bankroll depends entirely on your own comfort level.

Can I use a system to help me win?

While there are several systems in roulette that many people use, none of them will give you an advantage over the house. Strategies include noting the numbers or colours that have appeared frequently and adjusting bets based on this, or the “Martingale” system which involves doubling your bet each time you lose.

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