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- Identify your budget
- Set staking plans
- Avoid chasing losses
- Keep track of your results
Success in betting should not be measured purely on financial information. Betting is a form of entertainment and to get the most out of it you will need good betting budget management. We will likely back more losers than winners, controlling your betting budget allows you to spread out your betting whilst limiting the impact of losing runs.
Identify Your Budget
We all have commitments when it comes to our finances. Make sure you have those covered before you look at what money you can put towards other things. Betting with money that was needed to pay for your MOT is never a good idea.
Once those things are covered it doesn’t mean the rest should be put into your betting account, make sure your left-over money is divided appropriately over any leisure and entertainment activities you have planned.
There is a big difference between what you can afford to lose and what you are comfortable with losing. Betting with an amount you aren’t comfortable with reduces the enjoyment and add pressure that isn’t needed. There is also the chance you will react badly to losing that money which could lead to you trying to chase your losses. That is never a good idea and we go into that in more detail later.
Staking Plan
This is the key to betting budget management. If you have a set amount of £300 but stake £100 per bet, your betting budget will disappear quickly and there’s no fun in that. As a rule, look at staking no more than 2-5% of your betting budget per bet. The table below gives you an idea of what that looks like.
| Betting Budget | 2-5% Staking Plan |
| £50 | £1 – £2.50 |
| £100 | £2 – £5 |
| £150 | £3 – £7.50 |
| £200 | £4 – £10 |
| £250 | £5 – £12.50 |
| £300 | £6 – £15.00 |
By keeping your stakes within that range, it allows much greater room for error. If your betting budget rises, the stakes will be in proportion to that. This means when we have those losing runs the amount per stake will go down.
The benefits are not purely financial. The entertainment you get from your bets will go a lot further with a good staking plan. Betting 2% of your betting budget always gives you 50 bets to play with. Yes, the stakes of those bets may change but you are making the enjoyment of betting go a long way by adopting this approach.
Avoid Chasing Losses
Keeping your emotions in check is crucial when it comes to betting. We’ve all been there counting our winnings, when a late goal goes in and your accumulator is down the pan, along with those £200 of winnings you were already planning to spend. Should you be angry that your team can’t hang on for a win? Absolutely. Should that emotional reaction lead you to place a bet in order to try and win back that money? Absolutely not. Placing bets with that mindsight is only going to result in you losing more money.
Using the advice above you can put these types of results into context. By having a staking plan in place that result will only of cost you 2% of your betting budget, you can’t lose the £200 winnings you were counting if they never landed in your account.
You can also use your account tools to help you. They will remove the ability for you to act impulsively. Some operators allow you to set stake limits which work well alongside this type of system. Check out our article on account limits here and how they can help you here.
Keep Track of Results
If you have a set aside a betting budget for betting, monitoring your wins and losses is important. It will help you identify areas where your betting could be improved. Whilst using a staking plan will provide security on losing runs, look at what you are losing on and whether there are commonalities in those bets. You can also spot trends with your successes, whether it be certain racetracks or teams you are backing, focusing on those will give you a better chance of your betting budget growing.
Success in betting does not have to be purely financial. The ability to participate and the enjoyment that brings is just as important. By having good betting budget management, you will always be able to enjoy your betting. Do you want to be that person sat at home whilst your mates are having a day at the races? All because you didn’t take a few steps to manage your money, I doubt it.
If this does sound like you, have a try with some on the points we have spoken about above. Put in place a system which allows you to enjoy your betting for longer and let us know how you get on.
