It was in January 1979 that I started a new chapter in my life. I had worked in the banking business in Connecticut when I decided upon a career change to try and get a job in sports.

I went back to school at St. John’s University to study a new major called Sports Administration. Back then, there was no clear path to getting a job in sports but St. John’s had a novel idea.

St. John’s had the resources and contacts in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to start internships with sports organizations to work for credits only.

So in January 1979, I began an internship with the New York Racing Association. There, I was working for free in the Aqueduct press box in the dead of winter. Back then the press box was full because all of the New York daily newspapers staffed the popular horse-racing beat.

One of the old-timers in the Aqueduct press box was Mike Lee, who was the highly respected sports editor of the now-defunct Long Island Press. In fact, the NYRA still runs the Mike Lee Stakes for New York-breds in his honor.

Mike asked me, “what is the biggest bet you ever made in your life?” I said something like $20 to win. “Nope,” he said. “Your biggest bet will be your last $2.”

To this day, I have never forgotten those words.

I live in Las Vegas, a city where too many people have made that “biggest bet” of their last $2. That is not a good thing, of course. But that doesn’t mean that gambling, and, in our case betting on horse races, is an evil thing to do. It’s not.

Las Vegas marketers like to use the term “recreational dollars” when they refer to gambling and entertainment spending. I agree with the term because your gambling bankroll should be recreational money. It should be a separate bankroll kept apart from your household account.

Fans handicap a race at Del Mar. (Penelope P. Miller/America's Best Racing)

I consider the topic of bankroll so important that in my book “Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies” I devoted a chapter to it starting on page 175. A bankroll is meant to last for the long run.

You never want to bet money needed to pay the rent or put food on the table. Make sure your bills get paid first. So what size should your gambling bankroll be?

My Dummies book was written with the premise that the novice reader had a $100 gambling budget for the day. A $2 bettor can last a long time, have lots of action and churn a lot of cash through the betting windows within that budget.

I also get asked what are the right-sized bets for me. My answer is: it is determined by the size of your bankroll and one’s own personal comfort level. For example, say you have a $1,000 bankroll. It would be dumb to make a $500 bet. You could win, which would be great. But you could lose reducing your bankroll by 50 percent with one big swing.

Sports gamblers, in particular, talk in terms of unit betting. A unit to a sports bettor with a $1,000 bankroll could be $10, $25, $50. Whatever their comfort level is. If they are on a losing streak, they will reduce the unit size. It they are winning, they can increase it. If they love a game or side they will bet multiple units. It’s all a part of a long-term game plan.

Horseplayers need to think the same way. For example, an incredibly frustrating feeling for any horseplayer is to have a 5-star play and you’ve run out of money. Your best bets deserve a larger part of your bankroll betting. A big test if you are managing your bankroll well is whether or not you can withstand a long losing streak. Losing streaks happen even to the best of gamblers because, as we know, “Lady Luck” is fickle thing.

I keep a separate bank account for my gambling bankroll. The balance goes up and down as one can imagine. Fortunately, I have not had to bet “my last $2” in a long, long time.

Richard Eng is the author of “Betting on Horse Racing for Dummies”, an introductory book for newcomers to the sport of horse racing.  For two decades, he was the turf editor and handicapper for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He still handicaps the Southern California tracks and his picks are for sale at www.racedaylasvegas.com. You can email him at rich_eng@hotmail.com and follow him on Twitter @richeng4propick and on Facebook.com.