The age-old question pondered on many message boards and in the comments sections of many articles is whether someone can make a living by gambling. Regardless, that is pretty impressive feat, but can anyone sustain this year after year and make a living gambling full time?

Even the most successful handicappers and bettors I know all have a day job that pays the bills and allows them to fund a bankroll to play the races. Bankroll The biggest factor that keeps anyone from gambling for a living is their bankroll. Most of us are playing with a bankroll that is within our current means of living from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. This would be difficult for the niche horseplayer who perhaps only plays turf sprints or is very particular with their plays.

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Rebate shops can help to soften the blow, but expenses have to be factored into the equation as well. Do you spend time at the track watching workouts or races?

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How much does your data cost? Last week, I discussed how tracking your bets and handicapping can help you hone in on what may be sabotaging your bankroll. Without picking the right horses and knowing how to play them, you are not going to turn a profit, regardless of the size of your bankroll. We all hit slumps regardless of how sound our handicapping is.

The more money you have on the line, the more confident you need to be in your handicapping and decisions. Money Management If there was a perfect system for money management, you would think someone may have found the Holy Grail! There are several prevailing methods of money management that have been kicked around by the writers in the handicapping community. Which one is right for you?

That depends on how you play. Kelly Criterion This is one of the most popular and oft-discussed strategies.

You are optimizing your wager size on the perceived edge you have on the race based on the fair odds that you have assigned your pick versus the track odds. Percentage of Bankroll This theory is based on the concept that you will play a certain percentage of your bankroll on a horse. Maybe a certain angle provides more of an edge or a higher win percentage than other angles?

In that case you can vary the percentage of bankroll you wager based on your confidence in the play. On an angle that hits less often, you may elect to use a percentage that is lowered based on the strike rate. Some wager types may vary in size from others based on either historical return on investment or strike rate. Prime bets are the wagers that you feel most confident in and meet handicapping criteria that leads you to make the wager.

Action bets are the bets that you would place based on current odds or conditions that are not part of what your handicapping says are solid bets, but may be worth the risk given the potential payoff. Since the greater potential for a larger payout resides in exotic wagers, you must consider what percentage split you would want to make.

If the exacta comes in, you win on both the win bet and the exacta. This is a way of hedging wagers should the favorites come in and allow for lower, yet profitable, wagers on longer shots.

In the case of exactas, you can see the probable payouts for each exacta combination either on your computer or on the monitors at the track. For every horseplayer and handicapper in the world, there is another way to play the races.

Every player is different and needs to find what works best for them. While specializing in thoroughbred racing, Ray also handicaps harness racing, Quarter Horse racing, baseball, football, hockey, and has been rumored to have calculated the speed and pace ratings on two squirrels running through his backyard.

Ray likes focusing on pace and angle plays while finding the middle ground between the art and science of handicapping. When he is not crunching numbers, Ray enjoys spending time with his family, cheering on his alma mater Rutgers University , fishing, and playing golf. Sign up to get the latest insights delivered straight to your inbox. Trainers Kentucky Derby Odds: Latest Racing News US Racing Features Racing Analysis Handicapping Reports Breeders' Cup News Kentucky Derby Road Race Recap NFL Betting.

Can You Make a Living Playing the Races? Andy Beyer photo via www. Ray Wallin is a licensed civil engineer and part-time handicapper who has had a presence on the Web since for various sports and horse racing websites and through his personal blog. Introduced to the sport over the course of a misspent teenage summer at Monmouth Park by his Uncle Dutch, a professional gambler, he quickly fell in love with racing and has been handicapping for over 25 years.

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