What is a unit in sports betting?
A unit is your standard bet, the amount you put on an ordinary play. Bettors count their wins and losses in units so a record means the same thing whether the player bets $10 a game or $1,000.
Why bettors count in units
One unit is a set share of your bankroll, usually 1 or 2 percent. On a $1,000 bankroll a 2 percent unit is $20. On $50,000 it is $1,000. A bettor who is up 10 units has done equally well in either case, which is the point: units let two players of very different sizes compare what they have done without talking about money.
How to set the size, and why 1 or 2 percent, is on the bankroll page. I won't repeat it here.
Risk or win
There is no single rule about what one unit means at a minus price, so a record has to say. Take a favorite at -200. Bet one unit to win and you risk two. Bet one unit at risk and you win half a unit.
At -110 the difference is small but it adds up. Say a bettor goes 55 and 45. If each bet is one unit to win, he made 55 units on the winners and lost 49.5 on the losers (each loser cost 1.1), so he is up 5.5 units. If each bet risks one unit, the winners paid 50 units and the losers cost 45, and he is up 5. Same picks, two figures, and both are honest if they say which one they are.
The trouble with 5-unit plays
A lot of pick sellers rate their plays: one unit on an ordinary pick, three or five on the ones they like most. That changes what "up 20 units" means, because a good week on the big plays can hide a bad month on the rest. I'd want any record in units to show the price and the size of every pick, and the cappers page has the rest of what I'd check.
For my own money I'd bet one unit on everything. If you think one game deserves five times the stake of the next, you are more sure of yourself than the numbers usually allow.
Related questions
What are cappers?
A capper is a handicapper: someone who studies games and picks sides against the line. The word is mostly used for people who sell or post their picks. Some of them are good at it. A lot more are good at marketing.
What is a sports betting strategy?
A sports betting strategy is a plan for which bets you make, at what price and for how much. The ones that hold up rest on two things: getting a better price than the bet deserves, and keeping stakes small enough to survive the losing runs.
How do you bet on sports?
Pick a book you can trust to pay, deposit only what you can afford to lose, choose a game, read the price and settle your stake before you look at the payout. Placing the bet is the easy part. Deciding how much is where people go wrong.