Money management is the number one reason why most sports gamblers lose and is just as important as picking winners. You might be a good handicapper but without proper money management you will fall in the category of a number of bettors who can pick games with consistency but also lose with just as much consistency.
You must start with a bankroll, or the amount of money you have set aside for NCAA football betting and can comfortably lose without affecting your lifestyle. For this demonstration we will use $5000 as our starting bankroll. Next you must select the amount of your Unit wager. We recommend using 2% of the bankroll as a unit wager. $5000 X .02 = $100. $100 would be the amount you wager on each game. You will eventually go through losing streaks so wagering 2% of your bankroll will allow you to keep wagering through it. The final step is to safely increase you wagers as your bankroll increases.
As your bankroll increases, you would also increase the amounts of each unit wager. Use 20% increments or 10 units. 10 X .02 = 20%. Simply put using the $5000 starting figure, you would increase your unit play to $120 after you won 10 units. Your bankroll would be $6000. Therefore $6000 X .02 = $120. Your wagers would then stay at $120 until you hit the next level or dropped back down to the $5000 mark. A drop down would result in a $100 bet, and an increase to the next level, ($120 X 10 units = $1200 + 6000 = $7200) would result in a $150 bet,($7200 X .02 = $144 or $150). It is important to note that you always round up to the nearest $10. Your bet size is increasing but your overall risk remains the same. Let’s look at the different level of results using this system.
Level of Results Based on +10 Unit Increments
By increasing your bet size at predetermined levels without increasing your risk you can safely build a nice bankroll. Let’s take a look at the results of a person who started with $5000, and used this system.
| Units | Unit Bet | Bankroll |
| 0 | $100 | $5000 |
| +10 | $120 | $6000 |
| +20 | $150 | $7200 |
| +30 | $180 | $8700 |
| +40 | $210 | $10500 |
| +50 | $260 | $12600 |
| +60 | $310 | $15100 |
| +70 | $370 | $18200 |
| +80 | $440 | $21900 |
| +90 | $530 | $26300 |
| +100 | $640 | $31600 |
| +110 | $720 | $38000 |
| +120 | $900 | $45000 |
| +130 | $1080 | $54000 |
At +130 for the year you are still betting just 2% of your total bankroll. Your risk is the same as you started. You are simply taking advantage of an increasing bankroll. The key is the predetermined levels of increase.
You must be patient in the beginning and you must be ready for some rough rides along the way. Of course at some point you will reach a level on your unit bet that you feel comfortable with and you should stop increasing your wagers and start dragging money from your account. That, of course, is when the fun begins. Best of luck.