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The Ten Golden Rules of Gambling



If you survive the assault course of these 10 Commandments of Gambling then you may have a chance of being successful with your betting activities…

There are no more than ten “golden rules” for gambling success and it’s certainly worthwhile to follow them.

Closeup of bunch of skeleton keysImage: Jiri Hera (Shutterstock)

Rule 1: Discipline

It doesn’t matter what type of gambling activity you get involved in be it Horse racing, Football, Poker, Roulette, etc., if you enter into gambling transactions without discipline then you are sure to reduce your chances of winning consistently.

If you have no discipline and no intention of inheriting any then make a vow to yourself never to gamble.

Rule 2: Never Chase Losses

If events are unfolding against you there is always a temptation to pour more money into the bet to try and force a profit. This tactic only increases the chances that you will lose more.

Likewise, adopting the strategy after a loss that you must recoup your losses by betting more on the next event is also a recipe for disaster.

Please seek professional help if you have this trait as it is an obvious symptom of ‘problem gambling’.

Rule 3: Staking Strategy

The one certain thing is that you will never win all of your transactions and some losses are inevitable. Managing your bankroll correctly means that these losing transactions get swallowed up in the big picture and are not noticed in the long run.

We advocate that no single transaction should eat more than 2.5% of your starting bankroll, or the maximum below this that you set yourself (depending on the probabilities to win). Failure to manage your bankroll correctly is symptomatic of greed.

Most gamblers have no structure to their betting activity and place bets without thought to how much they may lose or how much they are trying to win.

You need to act like a business and your goals need to be SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based. Your staking strategy then needs to be structured to achieve these goals without variation.

Rule 4: Coping with Winning Days & Losing Days

How you cope psychologically with losses plays a huge part in how successful you will be at gambling. Of course, no-one likes to lose but you have to learn to walk away at the point you set yourself, whether you are losing or winning. Not every session will be a winning one and it is important to have the ability to deal with this before you gamble.

Rule 5: Specialising

All successful businesses specialise and gambling should be no exception. By specialising you will understand better and research more ably your particular chosen field. Fewer, more focused wagers based on sound statistics and research is a much better way of investing hard earned money than employing a scatter-gun approach. Look closely at your betting patterns and see which area is ripe for specialisation.


Last Update: 5 January 2015

Categories:Betting Advice Betting Guidance Responsible Gambling



5 Responses to “The Ten Golden Rules of Gambling”

  1. 12 October 2014 at 5:27 am #

    This is all true !!! Im going to stop big bets of accumulator, there is no sure thing in gambling, its all statistics and luck…im excelling in horses, but i am greedy thats y im not successful, but im going to follow this rules to win and start a career on my horses..i bet on everything, inplay, its really a disaster chasing losses and thats me..im going to stop doing thatand bet with limit..example of no sure thing djokovic lose to federer, high secret 2/5 mark prescot progressive horse my last of my trebles van rijn..wolverhampton 8 lengths clear swerve and joc fell ohhhhh no…ty antonio for this nice tips

  2. 3 December 2012 at 3:14 am #

    “True gambling is about cutting down the chances of losing not increasing them”!!!!!

    In fact there are no “rules” whatsoever to gambling.

    “There is no right or wrong way to gamble” is a quote from a well-known soccer betting book whose title escapes me right now but which I can supply at a later date if need be.

    Betting on singles only is incredibly tedious and means you are limited to say an 8% profit a year.

    You’d possibly be better off being an accountant or running a business or lots of other things

    • 3 December 2012 at 8:05 am #

      Hi Antonio,

      firstly, many thanks for your many insightful comments.

      Of course, I agree with your statement that one is “possibly be better off being an accountant or running a business or lots of other things”. However, there are so many people who live the dream of becoming rich from gambling, and I dare to say that most of them are not open to reason.

      Therefore, if you like to contribute to the content of this site whit astute articles, I would be very happy. Be a guest author.

  3. 3 December 2012 at 3:03 am #

    Im afraid I could make a case for disagreeing to 4 of the above points but I will go with

    Avoid Multiple or Accumulator Bets

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with multiple bets IF you have an edge and you are aware that your risk of losing your bank is increased(even allowing for your reduced staking).

    Furthermore,when doing ante post sports bets,accumulators are FAR superior to singles!

  4. 8 October 2012 at 11:19 pm #

    I play high-stakes ball in a cup.

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