What Is A Unit In Sports Betting? How Much Should I Bet?
A Unit is a common phrase you will hear in sports betting and is in reference to how much you bet on a particular game or event. Your unit size is important to figure out early in your sports betting journey to truly evaluate how successful you are as a bettor where you may need to improve as well as solid bankroll management to keep you in control of your finances.
What Is A Unit in Sports Betting
As touched on in the introduction, a unit is how much you bet on a particular event or sport. However, that unit should be a consistent number or a consistent percentage of your bankroll.
| Bankroll | 2% Unit | 5% Unit |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | $2 | $5 |
| $500 | $10 | $25 |
| $1,000 | $20 | $50 |
| $2,000 | $40 | $100 |
If you’re a bettor of multiple sports, it’s ok to have different unit sizes for different sports as long as you’re aware of that process so that you can be honest with yourself on the success/failure of your betting models, research etc.
Calculating Units Won/Lost In Sports Betting
When reviewing the results of a previous night’s bets or over a longer period of time, looking at your wins and losses from a unit perspective is much easier to track than dollars and cents due to withdrawals and deposits.
To calculate your units won and lost from an odds perspective is quite easy, a losing bet is always -1.0 units (unless you’ve played a large underdog and did a half or quarter unit instead). A winning bet is calculated slightly differently when betting on a favorite compared to betting on an underdog.
| Bet | Result | Units Won/Lost |
|---|---|---|
| $10 on -125 | Win | +0.80 units |
| $10 on +125 | Win | +1.25 units |
| Any 1-unit bet | Lose | -1.00 unit |
When betting on a favorite, using american odds you divide 100 by the odds and remove the negative (-) symbol. If the favorite was -125 for example the math looks like this: 100/125 = 0.8 which is the number of units won, +0.8.
When taking the upset, using American odds you divide the odds by 100. The underdog you’re backing has +125 odds the math would be: 125/100 or 1.25 units. Very quickly you should be able to see that with a good system, hitting on some underdogs can erase losses and earn a profit even at a 50% win rate whereas betting on favorites, you’ll need your win rate to be over 50% to consistently turn a profit.
Quick Reference
| Betting... | Formula |
|---|---|
| Favorite (-125) | 100/Odds |
| Underdog (+125) | Odds/100 |
How Much Should My Unit Be In Sports Betting?
Many professional sports bettors consider a unit to be $100 or a C-Note, though the reality for most recreational bettors it’s not uncommon to have a $5, $10, or $20 unit. What it all boils down to is that is a number that you’re comfortable with losing on a relatively consistent basis (hopefully not too consistent).
A good rule of thumb for unit size betting is a percentage of your bankroll. Most high-volume sports bettors wager 2-5% of their bankroll per bet with 5% being on the aggressive side while 2% is fairly conservative. To put this in perspective, if you wager 5% of your $100 bankroll per bet, you can afford to lose 20 straight bets without winning before you would need to deposit again. Some folks see the $100 in their account and think that’s a green light to fire $20 bets but a rough night, missing 5 bets leaves your account empty.
| Starting Bankroll | Unit 5% | Bets Before Bankroll is Gone |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | $5 | 20 |
| $500 | $25 | 20 |
| $1,000 | $50 | 20 |
*If all 20 bets lose and you continue betting a fixed 5%
If you’re more of a one bet per night that you’re locked in on, you may be more inclined to wager a higher percentage of your bankroll but that risk is inherently there. Whatever your process is, try to be consistent for tracking purposes so that you can see that you may need to change your strategy and remember that sports betting is hard and losing is a part of it so make sure you’re being responsible and unit betting will help with that.
💡Key Takeaway
Choose a unit size you're comfortable losing consistently, stick to it, and track your results in units -- not dollars. Consistency is what allows you to accurately evaluate your betting performance over time.