A casino bankroll should be planned in hours, not just dollars. We priced an hour of play in six games and simulated 40,000 sessions per bet size to show how big a bankroll needs to be.
A casino bankroll should be planned in hours, not just dollars. To find what an hour costs, multiply your bets per hour by your bet size by the game’s house edge. On that math, the same $100 lasts about 38 hours on average at $5 blackjack and about 4 hours at $1 slot spins. The bet size that looks small is not always the cheap one.
By Maya Torres, Casino and Gambling Guides. Last updated: October 14, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- A bankroll is the money you set aside to gamble and can afford to lose. It is not rent, bills or savings.
- Hourly cost = bets per hour x bet size x house edge. It is the average price of an hour of play.
- Games with the same bet size cost very different amounts. At $5 a bet, double-zero roulette costs about $10 an hour. Blackjack costs about $2.60.
- Our simulation: a $100 bankroll at $5 flat bets ran out in 6% to 11% of two-hour table sessions. At $2 bets, it ran out in none of 40,000 sessions.
- Our take: for a two-hour table session, keep at least 50 bets in your bankroll. For slots, size the bet by cost per hour.
What Is a Casino Bankroll?
A bankroll is the money you set aside for gambling. It is a fixed amount you decide on before you play. When it is gone, you stop.
The National Council on Problem Gambling says to gamble only with non-essential income. It says never to use money meant for rent, bills or savings. North Dakota’s health department gives two numbers to aim for: gamble no more than four days a month, and spend no more than 1% of your household’s monthly income. (North Dakota Health and Human Services) That is a public-health guideline, not a rule of any casino.
Our take is to treat that 1% figure as a ceiling. Your bankroll can be smaller. The rest of this guide is about making a bankroll last as long as you planned.
How Much Does an Hour of Casino Play Really Cost?
An hour costs the amount you bet per hour times the house edge. The house edge is the share of each bet the casino keeps on average. We explain it in our guide to RTP and house edge.
Here are the numbers. Wizard of Odds publishes a table of hands per hour and average house edge that a Strip casino uses to rate players. (Wizard of Odds) Those edges are a little higher than perfect-play edges, because they include normal player mistakes. We used a $5 bet for table games and a $1 bet for slots.
| Game | Bets per hour | House edge | You wager per hour | Average cost per hour | How long $100 lasts, on average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 70 | 0.75% | $350 | $2.63 | About 38 hours |
| Baccarat | 72 | 1.2% | $360 | $4.32 | About 23 hours |
| Craps (pass line) | 48 | 1.58% | $240 | $3.79 | About 26 hours |
| Roulette, single zero | 35 | 2.59% | $175 | $4.53 | About 22 hours |
| Roulette, double zero | 38 | 5.26% | $190 | $9.99 | About 10 hours |
| Slots ($1 spins, our assumptions) | 600 | 4% | $600 | $24.00 | About 4 hours |
Two cautions apply. First, “on average” is not a promise. Your real result can be much better or much worse in any one session. Second, these are live-casino speeds. Online games run faster, so an online hour usually costs more.
The slot row uses two assumptions of ours. We assumed 600 spins an hour, a pace that posters on the Wizard of Vegas forum use in their slot bankroll math. We also assumed a 4% edge, which is a 96% RTP. Real slots range widely. Wizard of Odds lists slot house edges from 2% to 15%.
What Bet Size Gives Different Games the Same Hourly Cost?
Most players pick a bet size by feel. A $5 chip feels the same at any table. It is not the same. We worked backward from a $10 an hour budget to show how different the “same” bet is.
| Game | Bet that costs about $10 an hour |
|---|---|
| Blackjack | About $19 |
| Craps (pass line) | About $13 |
| Baccarat | About $11.50 |
| Roulette, single zero | About $11 |
| Roulette, double zero | About $5 |
| Slots | About 40 cents a spin |
A $5 bet on double-zero roulette costs as much per hour as a $19 blackjack bet. A 40-cent slot spin costs as much as either. That is why a low slot bet can still drain a bankroll fast. The spins come so quickly.
How Big Should Your Bankroll Be for One Session?
We ran a simulation to find out. Also, we started each session with $100 and played two hours with a flat bet. We ran 40,000 sessions for each bet size. “Busted” means the bankroll fell too low to cover the next bet. “Ahead” means the player ended with more than $100.
We used a simple model. Every bet is an even-money bet that wins or loses its full amount. Roulette used the real double-zero odds of 18 wins in 38. Blackjack used 0.75% house edge on even-money bets over 140 hands. Real blackjack has splits, doubles and blackjacks that pay 3 to 2, so treat that column as a rough guide.
| Flat bet | Bets in a $100 bankroll | Roulette: busted | Roulette: ended ahead | Blackjack: busted | Blackjack: ended ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1 | 100 | 0% | 28% | 0% | 44% |
| $2 | 50 | 0% | 28% | 0% | 43% |
| $5 | 20 | 6% | 28% | 11% | 43% |
| $10 | 10 | 40% | 28% | 43% | 40% |
| $25 | 4 | 78% | 18% | 76% | 22% |
A 0% result means no bust in 40,000 sessions. It does not mean busting is impossible.
Two things stand out. First, your chance of ending ahead barely changes between $1 and $5 bets. What changes is the chance of going broke. Second, blackjack busts more at $5 than roulette in this model, because it plays 140 hands in two hours instead of 76 spins.
Our rule from this test is plain. For a two-hour table session, keep at least 50 bets in your bankroll. That means a $100 bankroll with $2 bets, or $250 with $5 bets. This is our rule of thumb from a simple model, not a guarantee.
Why Do Slots Burn Through a Bankroll Faster?
Slots are fast. At 600 spins an hour, a $1 spin means you wager $600 an hour. A 4% edge on that is $24 an hour. Even a 25-cent spin costs about $6 an hour on the same math, which is more than $5 blackjack.
Wizard of Odds lists a standard deviation of about 8.74 bets for a slot spin. (Wizard of Odds) Using the method in its session calculator, an hour of $1 spins swings by about $214 either way. That is more than twice a $100 bankroll. So the $24 average hides large swings, and your real session can end sooner.
Our separate simulation of slot volatility shows this clearly. Two slots with the same RTP produced very different bankroll results. See what volatility means in slots for the numbers. The practical point is that a slot bet should be sized by its cost per hour, not by how small it looks.
How Should You Set Limits Before You Deposit?
Here is the short routine we would follow. Each step comes from the math above or from the public-health sources in this guide.
- Pick the money first. Use only non-essential income. Stay under the 1% of monthly household income ceiling if you can.
- Pick the time. Decide how many hours you will play before you start. The more you play, the more you lose on average.
- Work out the hourly cost. Bets per hour times bet size times house edge. If the answer is more than you would pay for a night out, lower the bet.
- Size the bet from the bankroll. For table games, divide your bankroll by 50. That is the bet size.
- Keep bonus money separate. Wagering requirements can force you to bet much more than the bonus itself. Read our guide to casino bonus terms before you accept one.
- Use limit tools if the site has them. The Responsible Gambling Council says many mobile and internet gambling sites offer budget and time limit tools. If you play at an offshore casino such as BetOnline Casino, check the account page for these tools before you deposit. We did not test its limit tools for this guide.
- Deposit only your session amount. If a site has no limit tool, only move your session budget into your account. It is a hard cap you set yourself.
- Do not chase losses. Both the National Council on Problem Gambling and North Dakota’s health department say to walk away once you hit your limit.
Editor’s Note: The hourly costs and the bankroll simulation are our own illustrations, built from published house edges and assumptions we state above. They are not a prediction for any casino or game. Table-game paces are live-casino figures from a rating table that Wizard of Odds says came from a casino executive. The slot pace and 4% slot edge are our assumptions. The simulation uses flat even-money bets and leaves out splits, doubles and side bets. We did not test any casino for this guide. Online casino rules vary by state, so check what is legal where you live.
Must be 21+ to play. Online casino gambling is not legal in every state. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) for free, confidential help.
References
- Michael Shackleford. “What is the House Edge?” Wizard of Odds. Last updated August 3, 2026. Checked October 14, 2026.
- Michael Shackleford. “Gambling Session Calculator.” Wizard of Odds. Last updated August 3, 2026. Checked October 14, 2026.
- National Council on Problem Gambling. “Responsible Gambling Tips and Resources for Help.” Checked October 14, 2026.
- North Dakota Health and Human Services. “10 tips to balance betting and your budget.” Checked October 14, 2026.
- Responsible Gambling Council. “Safer gambling tips.” Checked October 14, 2026.
- Wizard of Vegas forum. “Slot session bankroll for losers.” Community discussion, used only for the common 600-spins-an-hour estimate. Checked October 14, 2026.
