Money Management for Online Casino Players

Published: thu 7 nov 2019

Gain Control

Spending time at online casinos is a leisure activity which is enjoyed primarily for entertainment purposes, but the fact that it also gives you the chance to both win and lose real money means that you can’t afford to approach it with a frivolous attitude. On the contrary, if you want to get the most out of your online gaming, you should have at least a basic understanding of how to manage your money in a sensible way.

Why is Money Management Important?

Money management is important for a number of reasons. The first is that it enables you to have better control over your spending and gaming so that you can play your favourite games for longer than might be possible otherwise. For example, if you have $200 in your casino account you could play 20 spins of the roulette wheel at $10 per bet, or you could play 100 spins of the wheel at $2 per bet. Both approaches are perfectly acceptable, but if you want to enjoy as much roulette action as possible, the latter approach would better suit your needs.

A second benefit to taking a proactive approach to money management is that it could actually help you improve your chances of winning by allowing you to ride out short losing streaks without going broke. For example, in a few moments we will explain how you can set yourself a session spend limit so that you cease betting at a certain point should you run into a spell of bad luck, leaving cash in your account to try again in a future session. If you don’t set such limits, you could well end up blowing your entire bank in a single session.

Another reason why money management is important is because it helps you to avoid getting into financial difficulties. We have all heard the horror stories about the small minority of people who allow their gaming to become compulsive and end up spending far more at online venues than they can afford. By managing your money effectively you reduce the chances of falling into that trap.

5 Principles of Money Management

Managing your money effectively as an online casino player is as much an art as it is a science, so there are no hard and fast rules that can be followed slavishly. Instead, we would offer you five key principles that you should consider using to help you set up a money management philosophy that suits your own particular requirements. Those five principles are as follows:

• Only Bet with Disposable Income - The money you use to play online casino games should be genuinely disposable. As stated earlier, casino gambling means that you can lose money as well as win it, so betting with money earmarked for the mortgage repayment would be very unwise indeed. Instead, figure out how much disposable income you have, and then decide how much of that you would like to set aside each week or month for online gambling. Set a sum that you are prepared to lose so that you know you won’t be too upset if Lady Luck fails to smile on you.
• Set Session Limits - Having established how much you would be happy to spend on casino gambling each week or month – a sum we will refer to as your budget – decide how many sessions you want to play per week or month. When you have done that, divide your budget by the number of sessions that you want to play to give yourself a Session Limit. This is the sum of money that you should limit yourself to using in any given gaming session, and if you stick to it you’ll be able to enjoy the number of sessions you desire no matter how your luck runs.
• Stake Limits - The third principle of money management is to stake intelligently. If you have established a Session Limit of $50, you probably shouldn’t bet that whole sum on a single spin of the roulette wheel unless you would be happy to end the session after a single bet. Instead, decide how many bets you’d like to enjoy in an average session and divide your Session Limit by that number to identify the size of stake that you should using as a maximum. For example, if you have a Session Limit of $50 and you’d like to place at least 10 bets at the roulette wheel, your maximum stake would be $5.
• Stick to the Plan - None of the previous three principles will do you any good whatsoever unless you adhere to the fourth, which is to make sure that you stick to the plan you have created. You know how much you can afford to play with each month, how much you can afford to use in each gaming session and even what your maximum stake should be, so resolve to stick to those limits, day in and day out. Break this principle and your money management efforts will come to nought.
• Keep Strict Records - The fifth and final principle of money management is to start keeping strict records of your online gambling activity. Your records needn’t be extensive, but they should always be accurate, and include the date, the games you played and the amount of money that you won or lost. This principle will help you to see whether or not you are sticking to your plan, as mentioned a moment ago, but it could also help you to identify those games in which you fare best, which would then enable you to focus on them to a greater extent in the future.

Enjoy Your Gaming!

And there you have our five key principles of money management. Make them a part of your everyday routine and enjoy your gaming!