With the rise of “Gambling Twitter” both free and tout handicapping services have probably been flooding your timeline if it’s anything like mine. The picks and results may differ, but one thing you will always notice: there is one constant. The word “Unit.”

Nothing infuriates me more than this term because quite frankly, very few handicappers use it the right way.

A handicapper can go 1-5, but if that one winning position was a 10 “unit” bet, they are going to claim to be +5 units with a 1-5 record assuming the other five positions were one unit.

I’m here to explain to you one thing.

Units aren’t real. They are a tracking tool.

I understand not everyone is a professional handicapper and they have a side bankroll for gambling (or at least put aside a part of their regular income). For me though, I take money earned from handicapping and put it into my life to pay these pesky things called bills. If I make a car payment am I down two units? If I pay a mortgage payment, am I down five units? We live in a world of -110 for most point spread sports, however, units were created for money line sports like baseball, combat sports, tennis, etc. Let me explain why. If you are a baseball handicapper and go 2-1, but the money lines are different, your net money earned is going to be vastly different than just + one “unit.” Let me explain: Boston Red Sox -310 (Risk 3.1 to win 1) Loss New York Yankees -110 (Risk 1.1 to win 1) Win Tampa Bay Rays +105 (Risk 1to win 1.05) Win It’s a 2-1 Record, but because you had to risk 3.1 units on the first play, you would be down money. Let’s do a little gamblers math here. (-3.10), (+1.1,) (+1) = 2-1 record (-1 Unit) Do you see where this can get misleading? Tracking net money earned is more valuable than straight up wins and losses. However, units are for monitoring purposes and nothing more. The almighty dollar is king, not units. Let’s make another thing clear. Professional sports bettors do not keep track of units. Yes, based on the edge that a bettor has dictated they have, their wager size will increase but for the most part a handicapper who is risking 1% of their bankroll per play and hits 57-59% over the long term is going to not only be profitable but is going to limit short-term variance due to the fact they aren’t risking between 1-20% of a bankroll on any given play. The real definition of one unit is 1% of your bankroll. In a perfect world, you would only be wagering 1% of your bankroll per bet. The issue with this is it’s very unattractive to many.