5 Things That Are Slowly Draining Your Bankroll

It might not feel like you’re losing all that often, but for some reason, your bankroll keeps dwindling on a weekly basis. Your strategy can be consistent and well-thought-out, but any holes in your betting methods can get exposed over a long period of time.

The truth is that minor things can be the difference between long-term profitability, and a slow, painful bankroll death. In this article, I’ll lay out five things that could be slowly draining your betting funds.

1 – Always Betting on Your Favorite Team

Look, betting on your favorite sports team is going to happen from time to time regardless of whether it’s a good play or not. The key is to make sure that it doesn’t happen all the time.

Simply put, emotions get in the way of thinking rationally. For many people, nothing creates more raw emotion that watching his or her favorite team in action. While this is great for entertainment purposes, it can be hugely detrimental to your betting bottom line.

The way I’ve been able to avoid falling into the pattern of betting on my own favorite team is by reminding myself that you’re already going to be entertained throughout this game, so betting on it is almost unnecessary.

You should be going through your sportsbook looking to find games that look like good bets. If it’s a foregone conclusion that you’re going to bet on your team (or any team for that matter), this exercise is completely ignored.

If you want to bet on your team when you see a favorable matchup or attractive odds, by all means, go ahead. However, if you’re betting on them each and every game that they play, it might be time to consider holding back for a few games.

2 – Never Taking Moneyline Underdogs

Taking underdogs is hard enough, even when you have the benefit of getting points. Betting on the moneyline underdog when points don’t matter? That takes some serious risk tolerance. It also should be a big part of your betting strategy.

Typically, even when you win a bet, you aren’t getting back the same amount that you risked. For example, on a standard (-110) line, which is fair to classify as the average, you have to accept that your winnings aren’t going to quite match up to your initial bet.

Let me state the obvious: Winning a moneyline underdog bet isn’t easy. It takes some careful planning and consideration to choose the right games where an upset looks possible, if not likely. With that being said, it’s essential that you aren’t overlooking these potential betting options.

The next time you look at taking a bet on the underdog with the spread, ask yourself if those extra points are absolutely necessary. For example, in an NFL game, if the spread for the Jaguars gives them +3 points at -110, consider the idea of taking them on the moneyline at what I would assume to be around +140.

Incorporating more moneyline underdogs is the way to slowly grow your bankroll; ignoring moneyline underdogs as part of your overall strategy is a way to cause the slow drain to start taking place.

3 – Putting Too Much Stock in the Most Recent Game

It’s not news to anybody involved in sports gambling that recency bias has a major impact on the way the general public thinks about games. That means a high percentage of people put far too much weight on the most recent performance from a team or player.

I wouldn’t ever say that you shouldn’t take a team’s most recent game into consideration, but if that’s the only thing you’re looking it, it’s entirely possible that you’re doing yourself more harm than good. Instead, try using recency bias to your advantage by simply recognizing it when you evaluate the odds on a game.

For example, if you noticed that a team played unusually well in their most recent game, perhaps you mentally subtract a point or two from them in the next game’s point spread. Another way to say it is to go the opposite way of the most recent game. This is really just one more way to say fade the public, but it’s proven to be an effective strategy time and time again.

The bottom line is that you shouldn’t make bets without getting all the information available to you. Look back at the team’s performance throughout the season as a whole, and don’t get too focused on the last game.

4 – Chasing Losses

Of all the potential reasons that your bankroll is slowly withering away, this one probably applies to the largest number of people. Chasing losses is widely-recognized as inadvisable, but unfortunately, human nature often has other plans.

To state the obvious, your goal of sports betting is to win money, not finish where you started. However, we often forget that finishing where you started is, in fact, better than losing. This leads to what is commonly-referred to as “chasing losses.”

Here’s an example of how chasing losses can kill your bankroll. This may or may not be a personal experience I’ve endured on many Sundays throughout football season:

After losing $50 on a game, I’ll decide that I don’t just want to get back to even (which by the way, would require betting $55 with the -110 odds), I want to get in the green. For this reason, I’ll decide to bet $75 so that I can get back my initial loss and also be profitable.

Sometimes, it works out, but sometimes, my losses are now more than doubled. That means now, keeping with the above example, I’m sitting at a deficit of $125. If I continue to apply the same mindset that got me here, which means chasing my losses, it would require an additional bet over $125. If this is lost, I’m now in real trouble, sitting at around $250 in the hole.

You might be thinking, “All you did was show the results of three losses. What’s the lesson?” The point is that if I had stuck with my original $50/per game plan, I would only be down $150 after losses. If I’m chasing losses by betting larger amounts, I’m now down significantly more.

The example I’ve laid out is truly an all-too-common slow-killer of bankrolls everywhere. The message to take away is that you should look at each bet as its own entity; you shouldn’t try to win back your losses by betting more money, but rather by winning more bets.

5 – Not Tracking Your Results

It’s not exciting or fun, but implementing an effective tracking system is arguably the most important part of any sustainable betting strategy. That is, assuming you have a bankroll in place.

Anyone who bets on a regular basis knows it’s impossible to keep track of your money if you aren’t diligent about documenting your win/loss results and associated cash flow. The single-most crucial aspect of money management is recognizing where you stand at all times.

You might have a general idea of where you stand overall, but this is exactly what leads to a slow drain on your bankroll.

The good news is you don’t have to create some complex system of tracking your bankroll. A basic spreadsheet, or even simply a piece of paper should be sufficient. The real key is that you actually stay up-to-date with your information.

When you regularly see exactly where you’re at in terms of your bankroll gains and losses, you’ll become much more concerned with value when looking at potential betting options. Once you’ve recognized the importance of high-value plays and stop focusing so much on simply winning a bet, the tides will usually turn in your favor going forward.

Conclusion

For the majority of bettors, a slow and painful bankroll death are just part of being a gambler. Very few actually get to enjoy seeing it grow over time.

With that being said, if you’re able to eliminate, or minimize the things included in this article, you’ll give yourself a real shot to be successful. Focus on value, track you finances carefully, and remain disciplined in your approach.