Using a Betting Bank

What is a Betting Bank and Why Should You Have One?

Any serious gambler should operate a betting bank. It is a fund which you use only for betting. The size of the bank is not so important, however, it is vital that you maintain accurate records so you always know exactly how large or small your betting bank is. The size of your bank will reflect the success or failure of your betting activities. It is worth taking the time to set up a new new bank account purely for your betting bank as this makes everything totally transparent.

Having kept all of your gambling transactions separate from your day to day finances you can quickly tell if you're making profit or losing cash. Where you are losing cash, if something doesn't change you will burn your whole bank. Rather than dip into your savings now is the time to reconsider your strategy, you have just lost your bank for a reason. Usually the reason is one of the following:

1. Your bets were too large compared to the size of your bank
2. Your bank could not withstand long losing runs (perhaps you only back big prices - nice when they win but they don't come round too often)
3. You are simply not good enough at gambling - this is the most common problem. It is very difficult just to break even and takes a lot of hard work.

How to Use a Bank System

Careful use of a betting bank can help overcome the problems mentioned above. Firstly you should consider what your main objective is. For some it is simply to have a bit of fun, if they blow the bank they simply top it up again next month. There is nothing wrong with that, however, if you are looking to make long term profits you need to be more methodical.

Step 1 - Bank Size
Determine how much you can afford. It could be £10, £100 or £1000, the size doesn't matter. Remember your goal is simply to increase your betting bank. You can increase the size at a later date, for now just work out a sensible amount that won't cripple you financially if you lose it - remember, it is possible to lose your whole bank.

Step 2 - Assess the Risk
The size of your bets must represent a very small percentage of your bank. Consider, putting your whole bank on one selection, if it loses, it's game over. What if you bet half your bank? Can you imagine losing 2 bets in a row? Probably, and again, when this happens it is game over. So, early on you need to look at how long your losing runs could be.

Lets consider someone that backs a lot of favourites at even money. Well firstly, the bookies think these selections have a fair chance of winning - at even money we could approximate a 50% chance of winning (we're assuming the bookie is right and that their prices are fair, but that's another article!). You might think this is a pretty good strike rate and hence stake 25% of your bank. But, consider this, with a 50-50 outcome you could expect to lose 4 times in a row just over 6% of the time. If you bet frequently this WILL soon happen and staking 25% of your bank role will leave you broke.

Remember, the example above assumes you are backing even money favourites, what if you are backing outsiders? Well the losing runs will be more frequent and they wil be longer. It is vital that you are disciplined and only ever stake a small part of your bank.

Step 3 - Pounds to Points
We mentioned earlier that the size of your bank is not important. The reason for this is we convert your pounds into points. You'll find many things are based on percentages in gambling so it can be handy to represent your bank as 100 points, then 1% equals 1 point. If you are using a £10 bank each pound is worth 10 points, or looking at it the other way, each point is worth 10p. You can use the table below for some quick examples:

Step 4 - Placing a Bet
Once you have created your betting bank, converted your pounds to points & highlighted a selection that represents a good bet, now you have to get your cash on. In the early days we recommend you stick with a straight forward level stakes betting strategy. This is straight forward and does not add excessive risk. Considering the discussion on risk previously, determine how much of your bank you are prepared to stake, this will lead us to how much each of your stakes will be until we re-assess.

A conservative gambler would perhaps place bets that represent 2% of their bank, this gives good protection from losing runs, although the bank will increase only slowly. A more aggressive gambler may stake 5%, this will allow the bank roll to grow more quickly, but the chance of being wiped out by a losing run is higher.

Let's assume you are a conservative gambler, with 100 points in your bank you should stake 2 points on all selections, remember that to begin with we suggest using a level stakes strategy. If you placed £10 in your bank you'll be staking 20p per selection, with a £100 bank you'll be staking £2 per selection. Note that you won't recalculate after every bet using this strategy, if you lose, you will still stake 2 points on the next bet. If you win you will still stake 2 points on the next bet. However, you may choose to recalculate say once a month.

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