Maybe you won't spend all of the money on one bet, but if you keep losing, a $500 bankroll can disappear fairly quickly if you're making $100 bets.
If you're not a serious bettor, units aren't a major deal because you can go into a sportsbook with a set amount of money and bet it all in one night. If you really like a certain bet, you can lay five units on it. Often, a one-unit play compared to a five-unit play is in reference to a bettor's confidence. If you're a serious bettor, it's rarely a good idea to make a bet with more than five units unless you know something everyone else doesn't. In this situation, if someone puts three units on a bet, it would be a $30 bet. One unit is usually equal to one percent of a bankroll, though it's not the same for everyone.įor example, if your bankroll is $1,000, one unit would be $10 or 1%. It's mainly used because everyone's bankroll is different and a unit refers to the percentage of a bankroll. A unit in sports betting is a measurement of the size of a given bet.