How to Plan Your Betting Budget and Stakes

Choosing a match and a market takes most of the attention, while the size of each stake often gets decided in a few seconds. People who regularly bet on sport for entertainment often find that this second decision affects their experience just as much as the first. A clear budget and a simple staking system keep betting enjoyable, predictable and easy to review.

The steps below describe a straightforward approach that works for any sport, market and level of experience.

Step 1. Set a monthly entertainment budget

Planning starts with a fixed amount set aside each month, separate from the money needed for rent, food, transport and other essentials. It should be an amount whose loss would not affect everyday life.

Treating it as an entertainment expense, like a cinema ticket or a concert,   experience, puts it into perspective straight away. Writing the amount down, in a notebook or a note on the phone, is an important step. A figure that exists only in the mind tends to grow as the weekend’s matches approach.

Step 2. Divide the budget into units

It is worthwhile to distinguish between two terms prior to determining the stakes. The monthly budget is the constant sum that is allocated at the beginning of each month. Bankroll is the amount of money that is used for betting now, that is, the budget with added winnings and subtracted losses. Unit is a certain constant stake defined as the percentage of the monthly budget. The conservative unit is 1-3% of the budget per unit, which means 33-100 units per month, so that a losing streak will not exhaust the budget. At the budget of 100, the unit of 2% is equal to 2.

When stakes are expressed in units, not in money, more stable decisions are made. A bet is no longer “X dollars” but “one unit” or “two units”.

The use of units ensures consistency of records regardless of the budget variations. A plus or minus five units is equally significant in January and in June.

Step 3. Choose a staking method

There are two kinds of staking that work for most individuals and are quite easy to practice. Everything here is based on personal preference and the comfort with making some quick calculations.

The first approach, flat staking, suggests placing the same amount of units no matter what the odds or confidence factor is. The unit amount remains unchanged from the beginning of the month as a proportion of the monthly budget until the next month comes. It has a clear benefit in terms of simplicity, and one unlucky day cannot spoil the entire budget.

Percentage staking implies putting a certain percentage of the present bankroll rather than the monthly budget on bets. This approach is continuously adjusted in case the bankroll changes.

The table below compares the stake size under each method for a monthly budget of 100, with the bankroll starting at the same amount:

Step 4. Keep stakes steady after a losing run

Losses will occur in bets, even if these bets have been made using proper logic. At 2.00 odds, there may be five to six consecutive losses just because of the effect of variance, with no problem at all with the analysis.

Increasing the amount of money being bet to recover the loss incurred during the previous week is probably the most common reason that budgets are depleted. Maintaining the unit regardless of outcomes keeps the strategy from being rushed.

When it is noticed that the stake being used is a little high due to losses, the best course of action would be to make the adjustment at the next review period, such as the next month.

Step 5. Record every selection

A mere record will turn impressions into facts and make a review objective. A spreadsheet or a book with several columns should be sufficient.

What is important are columns with the following information: date, match, market, odds, stake, and result. A comment explaining why a certain selection was made will make the review much more helpful.

After a month, one will be able to see from the record what markets and competitions yield good results and what habits should be changed, such as making too many selections of midweek matches or unfamiliar tournaments.

Habits that keep the plan on track

A few simple habits help the plan stay in place from one month to the next. They take little time and work best when they become part of a regular routine:

• checking the balance against the monthly budget once a week;
• placing selections only after the research is complete;
• keeping betting sessions short and scheduled in advance;
• planning other leisure activities around major match days.

A plan that works over time

A fixed monthly amount, small units, consistent stakes and clear records form a system that anyone can set up in an hour or two.