As with any form of gambling, success at sports investing requires discipline. The defining point between sports betting and sports investing is that the latter involves planning, research and strict money management. With someone who bets casually or without skill, their methods are basically “hit or miss”, so it’s no wonder their winnings are the same. Sports investing takes time and considerable mathematical skill; those with a background in statistics will make sense of the numbers much quicker than those with whom numbers don’t come easily.

The successful sports investor thoroughly researches the players and teams that will be involved in a game before placing any bets. The money management part comes in here; sports investors commonly have an established bankroll with a set amount of money in it, and all bets must come from the bankroll. By having a set amount of money to work with, the sports investor can decide what percentage of his bankroll he’s willing to risk for the chance to win a bet on a given game. This percentage of the bankroll is referred to by sports investors as a “unit”. A sports investor may establish one unit as any percentage of her bankroll, and will typically bet one unit per game.

It’s a common pitfall of beginners to bet too much per game. Professional sports investors advise to bet no more than 5 percent of your bankroll on any one game, and that less than this amount — maybe 2 or 3 percent — is the ideal amount to bet on average. It’s wise to make the size of your unit flexible; if your bankroll grows from more wins, you bet more per unit because five percent of a larger number will equal a slightly larger amount of money, and if your bankroll shrinks, you’ll bet slightly less. In this way, you’ll effectively protect yourself from suffering heavy losses.