When it comes to casino visits, bankroll management can be one of the most important aspects of a casino visit. Without a plan, it can be easy to lose track of things and spend more than you planned, or worse, potentially chase losses without a cutoff point.
Casinos are meant to be for entertainment, but because there’s real money involved, it can be an emotional scenario at times. So, we’ve compiled 5 bankroll management tips to help you set healthy habits that can ensure the trip remains a fun experience, regardless of the outcome of the visit.
1. Set a Limit Before Leaving Home (and Bring Cash)
The first step is to figure out what your limit is for the visit. We’re not fans of open-ended ATM runs and other steps that can make it easier to lose track of how much is being spent on a trip.
Instead, look at what makes sense for your entertainment budget, and make a decision to cut yourself off for the day if that money is exhausted. Even better, take the money out of your local bank in advance, which not only lets you save a few dollars on the way out to the casino, but also reduce the temptation of hitting the ATM for more money.
2. Set a Limit Per Machine
When you sit down at a machine, decide how much you’re going to give it, and put that into the machine. If you play through that money and it’s exhausted, you can then contemplate if you want to give it more or if you want to move on. In this way you can decide whether you’re feeling the game, or want to spread the wealth around.
This process can be important if a game provides a frustrating session, as it can make it easier to make the decision to get up and try something else, or perhaps take a break.
3. Put a Time Limit on the Visit
All casino games are designed to make money for the casino. The longer you’re there, the more likely they’re going to get the upper hand, even if you’ve been up for hours.
That’s why setting a time limit is a good bankroll management approach – it can ensure a better chance of leaving with some money, vs. playing until you run out, which many times players can find themselves doing.
4. Only Put Cash Into a Machine
One bankroll tip that we really love that we’ve learned from some players is limiting what goes into a machine to cash. It’s easy to put a big ticket you racked up on one machine, insert it into another, and play beyond your originally intended stop point.
Instead, putting some set amount of money in a machine requires another moment to think about whether you want to keep playing if that money is exhausted. It encourages a healthier approach by creating more decision points.
5. Set Aside Winnings
If you do get ahead, it can be an easy process to burn through the winnings and your bankroll. So, setting aside winnings to be earmarked to go home is a good technique for ensuring you leave with some money.
If you’re worried your discipline won’t hold out, a tool many gamblers enjoy is something called a Winners Bank – you can put cash into the device, which can’t be unlocked until you’re reunited with the key, hopefully at home. With this tool you can ensure you leave with money when you get some winnings on the board.
Share Your Bankroll Management Tips
Are there specific steps you take to protect your bankroll? Share them with us in the comments!
Hi Brian. Great article. I usually have a difficult time keeping my handpays. The best option that has worked for me on handpays is to ask the slot attendant to give me a check instead of cash. Sometimes I forget to ask for a check and the cash disappears.
Getting a check is certainly one good move to reduce the risk – it’s not foolproof, but it does introduce extra steps! Thanks for sharing that idea!
good idea
We keep our bankroll at home. Remove what our budget dictates, cash. When we have played enough (usually 1.5-2hrs) we cash out, go home and put our winnings (or what we didn’t lose) back into the bankroll.
It’s been as high as few mortgage payments and as low as ” after this …”
Haven’t had to go into “our” money in many years.
This is a nice variation on the “don’t hit the ATM at the casino” method – you’re managing the budget right at home! We also appreciate the stick to budget approach. Thanks for sharing this, Jerry!
Hey Brian,
Thanks for your tips! I also, tell everyone who questions me that Casinos are for entertainment, however, your tips are a great way to keep it that way.
Do you have any advice on how often you should go and how to narrow down which ones to go to because it is hard to get to the card with the most benefits? Thanks again enjoy watching you play! Look forward to seeing you on the cruise on January 29, 2024
We don’t have specific advice on how often you should go, except of course keeping in mind the more frequently you go, the more likely you’re spreading your budget thinner, and the casino knows you’re coming a lot, so it can have an impact on offers. Going less often, and pooling your budget to be bigger, can yield some nice offers once the casino adapts to this pattern!
did not know you could get a check
Getting a check is a great way to avoid having the cash on hand if you want to ensure you take it home!
I get my cash before I go to the casino to avoid high atm fees. I leave my bank card in my room safe and only take the money I am willing to gamble with, down to the casino floor.
It’s a great approach, Sue! You can’t spend more money than you have in that situation, and it helps to keep on the set budget!
I cash out my winnings whenever I get a bonus above $100. I put the $100 bills away and play with just the change bills.
For example – today – kept winning smaller bonuses and kept cashing them in and stashing the $100’s in my wallet and putting smaller bills into machine. Luckily I didn’t need to put too much back into Machine as I kept hitting bonuses.
I do this land based and ships!
We like this approach – lock in some profit, and don’t put too much money in the machine at a time so you can decide the next step if the money disappears!
I cannot emphasize the importance of investing in a $37 winners bank 200. If you use one of these to put in a percentage of winnings and leave the key at home, you will most likely (not always) take home something. Also, it is clear, that more times than not, the longer you play, the more you will lose over time. I find that I can get my fix in 3 or 4 hours of play, but everyone is different. That in conjunction with having a winnersbank will help your odds of taking home money and not blowing all your winnings should you have a lucky streak early in your visit.
Thanks Chuck for the comment, and we agree about the Winners Bank! We would be remiss if we didn’t mention it’s available in our Shop, and a few dollars less than the Amazon price at that!
Hi Brian,
Walking into a casino for the purpose of walking away with more money is quite different than walking into a casino for entertainment. People should decide which objective they want before opening the door. It’s fairly easy to find yourself ahead; it’s flat-out hard to go home with it.
To walk out with money, first define what constitutes a win. 10 percent of your daily bankroll is reasonable; 4x your money is a fantasy. Define what is a loss. Single zero roulette or BJ may be better choices than Buffalo Gold. Accept the reality that losses sometimes happen. Finally, the hardest part – if you hit your goal, cash out and go do something else. Don’t make exceptions, If it happened on the first spin walk away anyway.
Hey Scott! When it comes to bankroll management and a casino visit, we don’t recommend ever setting a goal of walking out with more money – it’s very easy to start behind, and never get ahead, and that leads to some of the pitfalls the article is helping players avoid, like chasing losses. So that sort of means the rest of your advice is hard to relate to completely when we don’t encourage players to visit casinos as a way to make money.
We do agree in goal setting, but we also believe goals can be tweaked based on what’s happening, especially if the player’s goal (as many are) is to have some level of time in the casino before going home. If you go into a casino with $200 and on your first spin win $1,000, we think it’s OK to say “let’s put this $1,000 over here and stick to the $200 we came with” – the budget is the same for spend, just you’re now going to walk out with $1,000 regardless of how that $200 plays out from there. And for those who have doubts about their ability to take that $1,000 home, that’s where Winners Banks come into the equation to help reinforce the decision.