Gambling Terms Defined – Bankroll

You’ll often hear us use the term bankroll when talking about online gambling. Whether you play online pokies for real money or other online casino games, managing your bankroll is important when gambling online.

Today, we will cover the concept of bankroll and why it is important to properly manage your bankroll when playing online casino games. We will also give you a few tips for managing your bankroll when gambling online.

What is a Bankroll?

In terms of online gambling, your bankroll is the amount of money that you have set aside for gambling. Generally, this money is separate from your bill money or other finances. For example, let’s say you budget $50 per month to gamble online. This means your online bankroll is $50.

Some people will deposit their entire bankroll at Aussie online casinos, while others will hold back a portion of their bankroll. For example, let’s assume you have $500 you have set aside for gambling. You might only deposit $200 on Spin Samurai and let the rest sit in your bank account. Your bankroll is still $500, but only $200 of your roll is active.

Some people create separate bankrolls based on their gaming. For example, online poker players may have a bankroll for cash games and another for online poker tournaments.

You might wonder why we give so much attention to bankrolls. It is because the size of your bankroll will greatly influence the way you gamble online. Let’s take a look at this.

How Bankrolls Impact Gambling

When deciding which online casino games to play, a lot of your decision should be based on how much money is in your bankroll. For example, if you want to play online pokies at $5 per spin, you will need a lot more money in your account than someone that plays for .25 per spin. However, many people don’t understand the degree that bankroll size plays into game selection.

For example, if you play at .25 per spin pokies, you can play a reasonable session of 50 spins for $12.50. The same number of spins at $5 will cost you $250. If you only deposit $50, you can play about 10 spins at $5 per spin.

For table games, you have to factor in the total cost of each round into your bankroll calculations. For a game like Three Card Poker, you will wager about $3 per hand despite the table limit being $1. You will need about $150 to play 50 hands of Three Card Poker to showdown.

When you play at stakes that your bankroll cannot support, you risk busting quickly. This forces you to either deposit again, or quit playing if you have exhausted your bankroll. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to make your bankroll last longer.

Tips For Managing Your Roll

Before making your first deposit, there are a couple of things you need to decide. First, how much do you plan to play for each spin or hand? Next, you need to decide the length of sessions you wish to play. Session length can be based on the amount wagered or the number of rounds. You’ll probably do better by picking a wager amount.

A good rule of thumb for determining session length is 50 spins or 50 rounds. We say 50 because that gives you enough play to withstand some short-term losing variance. You can also opt for shorter or longer sessions. If you plan to play $1 pokies for 50 spins, you need a bankroll of no less than $50 to play.

However, if you only deposit enough to cover one session, you risk being all-in each time. Instead, we recommend depositing enough to cover between 5 and 10 sessions. If you are playing $50 per session, that’s a deposit of $250 to $500.

If you cannot afford to deposit that much, then you may want to move down in stakes or reduce your session length.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to institute a Stop Loss for your roll. With a stop loss, once you have lost a predetermined amount of money, you quit for the day. Come back another day and try again. This way you don’t ride a losing session until you’re broke.