Flat betting
What does "flat betting" mean in sports betting?
Risking the same amount, usually one unit, on every bet instead of raising or lowering stakes based on feel or recent results.
Flat betting keeps one hot or cold streak from swinging your bankroll too far, and it makes your record easy to read: your profit in units is a clean measure of how your picks did.
The tradeoff is that it ignores how strong each edge is. Methods like the Kelly criterion size bets by edge, but they need accurate win probabilities to work.
Example
Bet 1 unit ($10) on 100 plays at -110 and go 54-46. Each win pays about 0.909 units, so 54 wins return about 49.09 units against 46 lost. You finish about +3.09 units, or roughly $30.91.
Related terms
Unit
A unit is a fixed slice of your bankroll, commonly 1% to 2%, used to size every bet so stakes stay consistent.
Martingale
A staking system where you double your bet after every loss so one win recovers everything. It risks huge stakes to chase a small gain.
Kelly criterion
The Kelly criterion is a bet-sizing formula that sets your stake as a share of your bankroll, based on your edge and the odds.
Bankroll
Your bankroll is the money set aside only for betting, separate from bills and savings. You size every bet as a share of it.
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