Bankroll & Budget Calculator

Before you sit down with a set amount, it pays to know roughly how a session is likely to go. This calculator takes your bankroll, your bet size and the game's edge, then simulates thousands of sessions to estimate how long the money realistically lasts, your chance of losing the lot, and what you'd typically have left at the end.

It's built as a planning and limit-setting tool, not a strategy. The honest truth is that the house edge means the expected direction is down — the value here is in seeing that clearly and choosing a budget and bet size you're genuinely comfortable losing.

Likely rounds played is the typical number of bets before you either hit your limit or run dry — a feel for how long the entertainment lasts. Risk of losing the lot is how often the simulated sessions ended with the bankroll gone; smaller bets relative to your budget lower it. Expected loss is the average amount the session costs you, and the typical end balance shows where most sessions finish. Set a stop-loss and a win target and the tool factors them in — walking away at either is the single biggest lever you control.

Bet size versus bankroll: the survival maths

The ratio between your bet and your bankroll decides almost everything about how a session feels. Betting A$1 a spin off a A$100 bankroll gives you a long, gentle ride with a low chance of a quick wipe-out. Betting A$10 a spin off the same A$100 turns it into a short, swingy sprint where a cold streak ends things fast.

The house edge doesn't change — your expected loss per dollar wagered is the same either way — but variance does. Smaller bets stretch the playtime and soften the ride; bigger bets shorten it and widen the range of where you finish, for better and worse.

A common guideline is to keep each bet to 1–2% of your session bankroll if you want it to last. There's nothing magic in the number — it's just a way to make the entertainment outlive a run of bad luck.

Why limits beat systems

No betting pattern changes the house edge. Doubling after losses, chasing, or 'due' numbers all leave your long-run expected loss exactly where it started — they just rearrange when the swings land, usually concentrating the risk into a single ugly moment.

What genuinely changes your outcome is a stop-loss and a win target set before you start, and the discipline to act on them. A stop-loss caps the bad days; a win target locks in the good ones before the edge claws them back. This tool lets you test both so you can see the effect on your risk of ruin and typical end balance.

If you ever find the budget creeping, the session running longer than planned, or losses being chased, that's the signal to stop — not adjust. Free, confidential support is available in Australia through Gambling Help Online and the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858, 24/7.

Worked example: A$200 bankroll, A$2 spins

You bring a A$200 bankroll to a 96% RTP pokie and bet A$2 a spin, with no stop-loss or win target set. Each spin carries a 4% edge, so your expected loss is about A$2 × 0.04 = 8c per spin. To burn through A$200 of expected loss would take roughly A$200 ÷ 0.08 = 2,500 spins on average — but variance means most real sessions end well before that, some far sooner.

The simulation typically shows a few hundred to a couple of thousand rounds of play, a modest risk of losing the full A$200 in a cold session, and a typical end balance below where you started. Add a A$120 stop-loss and a A$280 win target and the picture tightens: the wipe-out risk drops and more sessions end at a deliberate stopping point rather than at zero. That's the lesson — the limits, not the bet pattern, shape the result.

Glossary

RTP

Return to player — the percentage of all wagers a game pays back on average over the very long run, e.g. 96%.

House edge

The casino's built-in mathematical advantage, equal to 100% minus the RTP, taken as an average across everything wagered.

Volatility

How swingy a game is — low volatility pays small and often, high volatility pays rarely but large for the same RTP.

Wagering requirement

The total turnover you must bet before bonus funds and their winnings become withdrawable cash, shown as a multiple like x35.

Expected value (EV)

The average outcome of a bet or offer across thousands of repeats — positive means it favours you on average, negative means it costs you.