Is There a Scientific Way to Manage an Online Casino Bankroll?

At Everygame Casino, we know that bankroll management is a vital part of casino gaming.  It is especially important when a gamer goes to a land-based casino for a long weekend where the temptation to bet on and on is so strong.  It is also very important when you play at home on your desktop, laptop, or mobile device.

It is also very tempting to overdo gaming on a mobile casino app.  For that reason alone, some land-based casinos have started to offer a mobile gaming platform so their hotel guests never need lose a single minute of gaming over that long weekend we spoke about above.

Scientific Bankroll Management is Based on Hunches!

This certainly seems like an odd thing to say!  In fact, we manage our “bankroll” in many ways every day without thinking about it too deeply.  When we play casino games for real money we do have to think about our bankroll deeply but we manage our money every day!

We “know” when something is too expensive for us to buy.  This applies to everything we buy.  If the cheese we like suddenly goes up in price by ten percent, we might say to ourselves “I’ll get some next time”.  We do the same evaluation when we shop for new clothes or shoes, tickets to shows, movies, flights, bookings for hotels and rental cars ad infinitum.

We don’t need a scientific way to know if a new book is too expensive; we just “know” it!  This is what we mean that bankroll management is based on hunches.  Bankroll management is like any other money management we do and we do most of it by hunch!

Casino Gaming is Different

In a way, casino gaming is like being on vacation.  How often do people say, “I’m on vacation” to justify overpaying for a shirt or mug or souvenir or present for someone back home?  We get so caught up in being on vacation that we easily justify spending more than we would if we were looking at an item in a local store!

Some people do get so caught up in gaming that they can bet too much for their individual means.  This is what we would like to avoid and the purpose of this article.

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How Much Money Do You Have to Spend on Everything that is not a Necessity?

Well, what are the necessities?  Mortgage or rent, car payments, insurance payments, utilities, and food.  Christmas presents are still a necessity to most people.

Everything that is left after you set aside for necessities is called disposable income.  We can look at it as money we can spend or save.  In theory, we could spend it all on casino gaming.

We at Everygame Casino think that that would be a poor use of your disposable income!  We want the people who play at our excellent online casino to have a well-rounded lifestyle that includes gaming and many other worthwhile activities.

We are still at square one: How can we safely manage our casino bankroll?

Start by Setting a Time Budget for Gaming

One half to one hour is a perfect time frame for gaming.  It gives gamers the chance to rejuvenate their energy, to relax and unwind, and to have some fun doing so.

Your monetary budget will follow and it is based, if we are looking at it scientifically, on how long you will play.

What Games Do You Like to Play?

Most gamers play slots and we offer a wide variety of other games including several variations of blackjack and video poker plus baccarat, roulette, craps, Caribbean Poker, and Banana Jones!

Some games move faster than others.  Slots can move very fast so you might play four games per minute or more.  Now we have to make a calculation.  If you play four games a minute and you play for 60 minutes and you want to bet $1 per spin, how much do you need to have in your bankroll?

Here we assume that you lose every bet!  We know that that is statistically impossible but for the sake of the analysis, we have to make that assumption.  Thus, you need $240 as your gaming bankroll.

Almost all gamers would say that $240 is too much to budget for gaming.  Now, let’s take the house edge into account.  The house edge in slots is about 3%.  So, instead of needing $240, you “only” need that 3% that the house will take: about $7.

This is much more manageable!  If you play faster, the amount you will need may reach $20.

Volatility

In slots, there is a factor that we haven’t talked about yet: volatility.  Volatility is a term we use to describe an average gamer’s risk when he or she plays a given slot.  High volatility slots give some players big wins while most players have larger than average losses.

For the purpose of our discussion, it means that if you want to play slots and you want to scientifically manage your bankroll, you should play low volatility slots!

Here we should add a word about progressive jackpot slots.  Everyone dreams about hitting the big jackpot.  But progressive jackpot slots tend to have high volatility so we advise devoting a small percentage of your gaming budget to these games and then go on to other slots or to blackjack and video poker.

Why Blackjack or Video Poker?

Because these are the most straightforward games in the casino and they are the best games for conserving your bankroll with one very large proviso:  you have to use the best strategy on every hand!  If you do so, you can expect to win about 99.5% of all the money you bet over the course of a session.

That means that in a session in which you budgeted $100, you will end the session with $99.50!  But only if you play with correct strategy on every hand!

Tilt and Betting Systems

These are the X-Factors that don’t involve gaming per se but are known to cost some gamers dearly.  Tilt leads to excessive gambling in order to win back lost money.  Instead of chasing losses, accept the losses and close the session.  Get together with friends, watch television, go for a long walk but close the session!

To put it short and succinct, betting systems such as the Martingale do not work!  They inevitably require players to bet a large sum of money to win a very small sum of money!

Why is Bankroll Management So Important?

Good money management leads to better decisions.  It leads to an abundance of choices.  It leads to peace of mind. And it leads to an abundance of gaming fun!

For the best in gaming fun, JOIN EVERYGAME CASINO NOW!