Session Balance Check: Separate Game Results from Deposits and Withdrawals

A higher balance does not always mean a profitable session

Your account can finish a session with more money because you made another deposit. It can finish with less because you withdrew money. Neither movement is a game result. To understand what happened, choose a start time and an end time, then separate gambling transactions from transfers into and out of the account.

The examples below use fictional cash units, one currency and completed transactions. They do not describe a Lucky Bear account or its current payment terms. This is a way to check arithmetic, not a way to predict future results.

Write down the opening balance and every movement

Keep the same balance definition throughout: for example, the settled cash balance rather than a mixture of cash, restricted bonuses and pending funds. Record the opening and closing times with a time zone. For each entry, keep its identifier, type, amount and status.

In this simplified ledger, payouts are the full amounts credited after bets, and withdrawals are completed debits. No fees, bonuses, refunds or currency conversions occur.

The game result is 90 − 120 = −30 units. The closing balance is 80, but the change from 100 to 80 is not the game result because the account also received a deposit and paid out a withdrawal.

Reconcile the result in two directions

With only the movements shown above, closing balance equals opening balance + deposits − withdrawals − stakes + payouts. Substituting the figures gives 100 + 50 − 40 − 120 + 90 = 80.

You can also isolate the game result: closing balance − opening balance − deposits + withdrawals. Here that is 80 − 100 − 50 + 40 = −30. Both methods agree. Adding the 40-unit withdrawal in this second calculation removes its effect on the account balance; it does not turn the withdrawal into an additional win.

Do not add the original stake again when a payout entry already records the full amount credited. Use the transaction definitions in the account history, rather than assuming that a screen labelled “win” displays net profit.

What changes when bonuses or fees appear?

A bonus credit, cashback adjustment, fee or refund is an additional ledger movement. Keep it separate before attributing any unexplained difference to the games. A restricted bonus balance should not automatically be combined with withdrawable cash.

For example, a separate 5-unit cash credit would raise the closing balance in the example from 80 to 85 without changing its −30 game result. Applying the simplified formula without removing that credit would incorrectly produce −25. If a fee is deducted, record that debit separately as well. The purpose is to explain every movement once.

Pending entries and time boundaries

A withdrawal request may have a pending status while the interface treats its amount separately from available funds. Check whether a debit, reservation or completed transfer has actually been recorded before including it. Otherwise you may subtract the same amount twice.

A round started before your chosen end time may settle afterwards. Mark unresolved entries and avoid presenting an incomplete total as a final result. Use one currency for the calculation; if a conversion is involved, retain the credited amount and any separately shown fee.

If the numbers still do not match

Compare the ledger line by line with the account history. Look for omitted pages, duplicated entries, a different time zone or a cash-to-bonus transfer. Preserve the original export or screenshots, and ask operator support about the specific unmatched transaction rather than making another payment to test the balance.

As a reference for account-history information, the British Gambling Commission’s RTS 1 standard covers account balances and transaction histories for businesses within its scope. It is not evidence that Lucky Bear is licensed by that regulator.

For related concepts, read why RTP is not a deposit guarantee and how deposit, loss and stake limits differ. A reconciled past result cannot forecast the next session.