How to Track Your Bankroll Across Multiple Sportsbooks

The short answer

When money sits in five sportsbooks, "bankroll" is really three numbers. Let's track all three and write down how we define each one:

total bankroll   = sum over books of (starting balance + deposits − withdrawals + settled profit/loss)
at risk          = sum of the cash stakes on bets that have not settled yet
available to bet = total bankroll − at risk

Pending bets are still your money until they lose, so they stay in the total. They are just not available to place another bet with. Deposits and withdrawals move your balance but are not profit or loss, so keep them in separate columns.

In the worked example below (all numbers are made up), our five books give a total bankroll of $1,725.65, $150.00 at risk and $1,575.65 available. The actual profit is $25.65, not the $75.65 you would see by subtracting your starting balance from today's balance, because $50 of that balance change is net deposits.

Three numbers, three questions

Let's put a name and a question on each one.

Two limits on "available" we want to flag:

• It is per book. $1,575.65 spread over five books is not one pool. A book with $182.75 available cannot place a $300 bet, however much sits elsewhere.
• Free bets and site credit are not part of the cash bankroll in this guide. They are not money you can withdraw. Count their effect when they settle, or once you convert them (see the guide on hedging a free bet or profit boost). That is a convention, not a rule. Pick one and stay consistent.

Worked example: five books

Let's walk through it with five made-up books. Books and numbers are illustrative. Book A has two sub-accounts (Main and P1), which is covered in the tracker section below. Every figure here was recomputed in Python with exact fractions.

Formula for each row: balance = starting + deposits − withdrawals + settled P&L.

Per book (Book A's two sub-accounts added together): A $635.50 (at risk $40.00, available $595.50), B $237.75 ($55.00, $182.75), C $420.00 ($0.00, $420.00), D $220.00 ($25.00, $195.00), E $212.40 ($30.00, $182.40).

Check: the per-book "available" figures add up to the same $1,575.65 as total minus at risk.

Checking your sheet against the sportsbook apps

Many sportsbook apps take a stake out of the displayed balance when you place a bet. If yours does, the app should show roughly the "Balance − pending" figure: here $595.50, $182.75, $420.00, $195.00 and $182.40. Check how each of your books displays pending bets before you rely on this.

If a book's displayed number is off, common causes are:

• a bet you placed but did not log, or one you logged but did not settle;
• a deposit or withdrawal not yet entered, or a withdrawal still pending at the book;
• a bonus or credit balance that the book shows alongside cash;
• a promo, fee or rounding difference between your logged result and the book's payout.

Do this check on a schedule you will actually keep, such as weekly. We'd fix any difference with a note rather than by silently editing a number.

Profit is not the same as bankroll growth

Deposits and withdrawals change your balance but are not winnings or losses. Here's the relationship we'll use:

profit = balance − starting balance − deposits + withdrawals

Let's plug in our example:

• Balance now: $1,725.65. Starting balances: $1,650.00. Deposits: $150.00. Withdrawals: $100.00.
• Profit = 1,725.65 − 1,650.00 − 150.00 + 100.00 = $25.65. That equals the sum of the settled P&L column.
• The naive version, 1,725.65 − 1,650.00 = $75.65, overstates profit by $50.00, the net deposits.

Now suppose nothing is bet and we deposit $300, then withdraw $200:

The balance moved by $100 and the profit moved by nothing. If you track only balances, a deposit looks like a good week and a withdrawal looks like a bad one.

For context, $25.65 on $1,800.00 put in ($1,650.00 starting plus $150.00 deposited) is about 1.43%. That figure is only arithmetic on made-up numbers, not a target and not a typical result.

What happens to a unit when the bankroll changes

A unit is whatever size we define. One common way is a fixed percentage of your bankroll, and some bettors use a flat dollar amount instead. Neither is a rule, and a percentage is not a guarantee of anything. The example below uses 1% only to show the mechanics.

unit = bankroll × 1%

Two things we'd point out:

1. Profit alone moved the unit from $16.50 to about $16.76 (1% of $1,650.00 + $25.65). Most of the move to $17.26 came from net deposits, not results.
2. A $25 bet is 1.45 units at $17.26 per unit, but would have been 1.52 units at the starting $16.50. If you track results in units, decide in advance when you re-set the unit (monthly, say) so that old bets are not re-measured against a moving size.

Our tracker does not use a percentage of bankroll: see "How VigStamp handles this" for how it sets one unit.

A spreadsheet layout that works

If you track this in a sheet, one row per book (or per sub-account) is enough. Here's the layout we'd start with. Columns:

1. Book (and sub-account label, if you use one)
2. Starting balance
3. Deposits (running total)
4. Withdrawals (running total)
5. Settled P&L (sum of settled bets for that book)
6. Balance = 2 + 3 − 4 + 5
7. Pending cash stakes (sum of stakes on unsettled bets)
8. Balance − pending

Add a total row, a "last checked against the app" date column, and a notes column. Keep bets on their own tab with book, stake, odds, result and promo type so the P&L column is a sum rather than a typed number.

How VigStamp handles this

Our tracker, VigStamp, is a free spreadsheet-style bet tracker with sub-accounts. It follows the same three-part structure above, with a few differences worth knowing.

• Books and sub-accounts. Each sportsbook is one account with a Main ledger. You can add named sub-accounts under it (the placeholder suggests labels like P1, P2, P3), up to 24 per book. Main and each sub-account keep their own starting balance, deposits, withdrawals and settled P&L. The book's balance is the sum of its labels. In the app you manage these in Settings, under Sportsbook accounts, where each label has Edit start, Deposit and Withdraw buttons.
• The balance formula is the one in this guide: starting + deposits − withdrawals + settled P&L, per label.
• Pending bets. A pending bet's stake is shown as "At risk" (per book on the Summary tab, and per label in Settings). It is not subtracted from the balance until the bet settles, so the app's balance matches "total bankroll" here, not "available". The app has no "available" figure of its own, so subtract the at-risk amount yourself.
• Free bets. The at-risk figure on the book cards adds up the stake of every pending bet, including a pending free bet, even though none of your cash is at risk on it. Keep that in mind when you compare it to the sportsbook app.
• Sub-account on each bet. When you add a bet, an optional Sub account field assigns it to a label. Left blank, it stays on Main. A bet only counts on a sub-account if that label still exists on the book, otherwise it counts on Main. History has a Sub account filter.
• All books. The Summary tab shows an All books total (the sum of every book's balance), the total P&L and total at risk ("No open risk" when nothing is pending), then one card per book listing Main and each sub-account's balance and P&L.
• Profit vs deposits. P&L in the app is settled results only. Deposits and withdrawals change a balance but never P&L, which is the separation this guide recommends.
• Starting balance. A book saved by logging a bet is created with a $0 starting balance, so set the real starting balance (Settings → Sportsbook accounts → Edit start) or the balance will read low by that amount. A separate Starting bankroll setting still exists, but with accounts in place the All books total comes from the per-book ledgers and the older number is labelled "Starting (legacy)".
• Unit size is automatic. In VigStamp, 1u is the median of your logged positive stakes (a $25 fallback while fewer than three stakes are logged), not a percentage of bankroll. It cannot be edited. It moves when your typical stake changes, not when your bankroll does.

You don't need our tracker for any of this. The spreadsheet above does the same job. Our tracker is there for when you want the formulas, the sub-account split and the pending-stake total kept for you.

Common mistakes

Here are the slips that can quietly throw the numbers off, and how we'd avoid each one.

• Counting only what the sportsbook apps show. The apps show different things (cash, pending, bonus balances), so the total moves for reasons that have nothing to do with results.
• Subtracting pending stakes from the total bankroll. Pending bets are not lost yet. Keep them in the total and show them as at risk.
• Treating deposits as winnings. See the profit formula above.
• Treating free bets and site credit as cash. They cannot be withdrawn. Decide how you count them and write it down.
• Treating the combined balance as available everywhere. Available money is per book. Rebalancing takes time, and withdrawals can be delayed or limited.
• Starting a book at $0 and forgetting to fix it. Your balance will be wrong by the amount that was in the account.
• Re-setting your unit after every bet. A unit that changes daily makes old results hard to compare.
• Changing a number to make it match. If your sheet and a book disagree, find the missing bet, deposit or fee.
• Using one number for two jobs. Bankroll tells you what you can afford. Profit tells you how betting has gone. Keep them apart.

Responsible betting

We want to be clear: a tracker shows you what happened. It does not make a bet safer. Bet only what you can afford to lose, set deposit and loss limits before you start, and treat money you need for rent or bills as off limits. Gambling has risks and no outcome is guaranteed. You must be 21+ in most US states. If gambling is causing you or someone you know problems, call or text the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-522-4700 also works). It is free, confidential and open 24/7.

FAQ

What is a bankroll in sports betting?

The money you have set aside for betting. With several books, it is the sum of what sits in each book. How you count pending bets, bonus balances and free bets is a choice, so write down your definition.

Should pending bets count in my bankroll?

They count in the total, because the money is still yours until the bet loses, but not as available to bet. Show them separately as at risk.

How do I track money across multiple sportsbooks?

Keep one ledger per book (and per sub-account if you use them): starting balance, deposits, withdrawals, settled profit or loss. Add pending stakes beside it and check the balances against each book's app on a schedule.

Do deposits and withdrawals count as profit or loss?

No. They change your balance but not your results. Profit = balance − starting balance − deposits + withdrawals.

How big should a unit be?

There is no standard. Some people use a fixed dollar amount, others a percentage of their bankroll. The percentage used in this guide is only an example. VigStamp, for its part, sets one unit as the median of your logged stakes.

Sources

• No outside sources are needed for the formulas: they are arithmetic, and every number is illustrative. Books A to E are not real accounts or offers.
• Tracker behaviour described above was checked against the product's own code, not marketing copy.
• Helpline details: National Council on Problem Gambling, About the National Problem Gambling Helpline (https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/about-the-national-problem-gambling-helpline/) and the 1-800-MY-RESET announcement of January 29, 2026 (https://www.ncpgambling.org/news/1-800-my-reset-announcement/), which says existing access points including 1-800-522-4700 remain active.

All numbers in this guide were recomputed from the formulas above; the balances and bets are illustrative.