Picking winners in the Super Bowl — either against the spread or in the props — is tough enough. What really makes betting to win on the Super Bowl tough, though, is managing your money effectively. There are so many betting options, so much hype and excitement, and so much buildup centered around just one game that it can be easy to see your bankroll disappear in a ball of flames if you aren’t careful. Successful Super Bowl betting money management really comes down to just three things:

Set your goals

With a game as big and complicated as the Super Bowl, you aren’t going to have betting success — at least not in the long-term — if you don’t have goals established in terms of what you want to accomplish betting on the game. Are you betting to have fun, or are you serious about making a profit? Do you just want to have a rooting interest in the game? Or are you looking for a major score to cap off the season? Do you want to make bets that have a reasonably high probability of paying off, or are you willing to take a risky shot at a big payoff? If you don’t spend some time thinking about what you want to accomplish in betting in this game, then you are just making random bets, and you aren’t likely to get anywhere worth being — at least not in the long-term. By setting your goals you will have your path to success laid out, and, more importantly, you are more likely to avoid costly mistakes.

Know your limits

The Super Bowl is a massive spectacle. There is more media coverage leading up to the game than for any event on the planet. Everyone has an opinion about the game, and the world watches it. Because of all the attention and the excitement, and all of the betting options available on the game, it can be very easy to get carried away and bet more than you intended to. There is no better way to feel really dumb than to waste a profitable season by blowing your bankroll on the Super Bowl. Knowing how much you are willing to bet — the limits of your bankroll — is important every day you set out to bet, but it is especially significant in this game when so much can go wrong. If you bet online and are worried about your control then only have the money in your account you are willing to lose. If you are betting live then take the cash you need, lose your bank card, and have fun.

Identify your targets

There is more betting variety in the Super Bowl than any other game on the planet — in any sport. You can bet sides, totals or moneyline, but that is only the beginning There are halves and quarter. You can live bet every down. And then there are the prop bets. There are literally thousands of prop bets available. Everything from the performance of different players to the color of the Gatorade that gets dumped on the winning coach has odds. When it comes to the Super Bowl, if you can dream it you can bet on it. You can bet anything, but winning bettors know that you can’t bet everything. You have to be choosy to make sure that you are betting on the options that offer the best value and that you are giving yourself a good chance of overall success. There are many prop bets that are for suckers, so you are essentially throwing your money away when you bet on them. Even if you are betting on props that offer some value, it can be easy to bet on ones that essentially cancel each other out. For example, it is unlikely that one team is going to be hugely successful running the ball while the other is very successful passing the ball. The passing success could make it tough for the other team to stick to running the ball if they want to keep up, or the running success could kill the clock and leave little time for passing success. If you are betting on both things to happen then you are making it very hard to win overall. Instead, you need to focus on the types of bets you have the best edge with, and maximize your investment with them. Diversification is for your stock portfolio more than your Super Bowl betting.

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Read more articles by Trevor Whenham