It’s easy to spend money when you’re gambling, but are there any ways to save money while still enjoying your favorite hobby? There are a number of tips for your gambling bankroll management and other advice on how to reduce or keep your spending in check when playing gambling games, such as online slots, roulette, and more.

What’s a Bankroll and Other Gambling Money Terms

Before we get to tips on how to save money, it’s important to have a proper understanding of some key gambling and money terms. Here are the most important terms for you to know:

• Bankroll: Your budget for gambling.
• Bankroll Management: Managing the money you spend on gambling to avoid overspending.
• Casino Bonuses: Promotional offers from casinos, including rewards for performing certain actions, such as signing up, making a deposit, or playing a particular game. These rewards often come with terms and conditions, so be sure to read those closely. 
• House Edge: The advantage the casino has over a player in a game. The lower the house edge, the lower the advantage the casino has to win.
• Odds: The likelihood of a particular outcome when gambling. In some gambling activities, such as online sports betting, the odds will affect the payout amount.
• Payout/Payoff: The money a player receives from a successful bet or wager.
• RTP (Return to Player): What the player can expect to earn back for every dollar they spend.
• Tapped Out: When a gambler runs out of money.
• Tilt: When a player loses emotional control and starts to make poor decisions.

Now that you know some of the lingo gamblers use in relation to money and actions that affect your bankroll, let’s look at ways to help you save money while gambling.

Budgeting Tips For Gambling

Saving money when gambling is about correctly managing your bankroll. Here are four tips for budgeting and how to manage a gambling bankroll:

1. Set a Budget

Gambling can be an enjoyable hobby, but only if you manage your money correctly. Setting a casino budget is the first and most important step to saving money. The total you spend will vary depending on how much you earn, but your budget should be a value you feel comfortable spending (and potentially losing) over a specific amount of time.

Another essential part of budgeting is that you stick to whatever amount of money you’ve set aside. If you struggle to control your spending, many online casinos allow you to set a limit on the amount you deposit over a particular period, whether that’s a day, a week, or a month. This is a great way to avoid the temptation to go over your gambling budget when you want to keep playing.

When setting the value of your budget, you should never gamble money you can’t afford to lose. For example, don’t set a gambling budget thinking you’ll make a profit and use that to pay for other things such as groceries, rent, and day-to-day expenses.

2. Learn How To Avoid Tilt and Stay in Control of Your Actions

Learning to manage your emotions is key to saving money when you gamble. Or rather, learning to manage your emotions when gambling is crucial to avoid spending money you didn’t plan to.

For example, when you gamble, you may have a bad run. Or an opponent may get under your skin. Whatever the reason, you decide to keep on playing. Unfortunately, you’re tapped out of your gambling budget. But, instead of keeping your cool and calling it a day, you dip into other parts of your finances to keep playing. Little do you know that your chances of winning have reduced because you’re tilted. 

In these situations, it’s better to walk away and come back when you’ve calmed down. Even if you haven’t spent your entire gambling budget, leave and only return when you’re feeling level-headed. If that means taking a break that lasts a few minutes, a few hours, a few days, or even a few weeks, take all the time you need until you’re in a better space, mentally and emotionally. Pro poker players know that anger management at the poker table is fundamental to your success, and the same rule applies to other casino games, too.

3. Take Advantage of Bonuses and Promotions

Another way to save money is to take advantage of casino bonuses and promotions. Casinos offer many different bonuses, such as deposit bonuses, reward multipliers, and free games. Check BetMGM’s bonuses regularly so that you don’t miss out on any offers.

Remember that these offers may have terms and conditions. These will vary but may include bonuses when depositing a certain amount or spending a certain amount when making bets.

4. Play Games With a High RTP or Low House Edge

The final tip on this list is to play games with a high RTP or low house edge. Essentially, this means you should choose specific games or bets where your chances of losing are as low as possible. 

For example, if a slot machine has an RTP of 94%, that means for every dollar that you spend, you stand a chance of winning 94 cents back. It’s important to remember that you only have a ‘chance’ of winning that money back. In theory, you’d have to play hundreds, if not thousands, of games to guarantee getting that 94% back. Sure, you might get lucky and take home a jackpot and win back all the money you spent and more, but the chances of that occurring are very low.

On the other hand, games such as blackjack give the casino an incredibly low advantage. The house edge in blackjack can be as low as 0.5%. That means in any given game, the casino only has a 0.5% chance of winning over you. 

So, to ensure you don’t waste money when you gamble, pick games that minimize the casino’s advantage. Setting and sticking to your gambling budget will ensure you enjoy your gameplay and stop you from feeling like you need to chase losses. 

Responsible Gambling at Borgata Online

Borgata Online offers a variety of tools to protect you as a player so that you can have a great time playing all the thrilling games on offer, such as online poker, blackjack, slot games, and virtual sports.
Register at Borgata Online to have fun and gamble safely.