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The so called Martingale roulette system is an ingenious and very simple system for playing roulette and, it is often claimed, making a guaranteed win.
How the Martingale roulette system works
The Martingale system can be fully described in four steps:
- Make a small even-money bet on the roulette (that is, Red, Black, Even, Odd, High or Low).
- If you win, repeat 1. If you lose, go to 3.
- Double the previous bet and play again.
- If you lose, repeat 3. If you win, go to 1.
With this strategy, you make sure to increase your capital by a small amount each time you win. And since you’re playing so called even-money bets, you will win every other round, give or take.
The Martingale at work
Here are a few examples of what a Martingale roulette session might look like. Your initial bet is 1 USD (or EUR or GBP or whatever currency you prefer). Every time you win, your next bet will be 1 USD. But if you lose, you will double your bet until you win again and start over at 1 USD.
Example of a Martingale round
You bet 1 USD on Red. Red comes up and you win 1 USD.
Profit: 1 USD
Example of a Martingale round
You bet 1 USD on Red. Black comes up and you lose 1 USD.
You bet 2 USD on Red. Red comes up and you win 4 USD.
Profit: 1 USD
Example of a Martingale round
You bet 1 USD on Red. Black comes up and you lose 1 USD.
You bet 2 USD on Red. Black comes up and you lose 2 USD.
You bet 4 USD on Red. Red comes up and you win 8 USD.
Profit: 1 USD
As you can see, each win increases your total Profit by 1 USD. This may not seem like a lot, but if you consider that in online roulette you can easily put in 3 to 5 such wins per minute, you’re looking at a 200 USD to 300 USD profit per hour. Pretty nice, right?!
Problem is, this income is not guaranteed. NOT AT ALL. Let me show you why.
Why the Martingale roulette system does not work
At first sight, the Martingale system seems fantastic. You just keep doubling your bets until you win, book another small profit and repeat. And since you’re winning half the time, give or take, you’ll never have to wait long for this to happen.
It seems fool proof, and many fools have set out to prove it. None of them has made it into the Forbes 400 list. At least not by playing the Martingale system in online roulette, I can assure you.
So, why is this? Well forgive me for being rude, but it has to do with your limited financial resources. If you had an unlimited supply of cash, the Martingale system would work out nicely and would secure you a steady income.
Then again, if you had an unlimited supply of cash, why would you want a steady income?
What happens is this: When you keep doubling your bets, you soon reach an amount that you cannot pay. When this happens, it’s goodnight for Mr Martingale and his clever strategy.
But, you may ask, what’s the chance of that?! “I play only even-money bets after all. I should book a winner every other round, give or take, right?”
Sure, that’s right, and that is what will happen for some time. During which you will feel great. Top of the world. You’ll start planning your life as a financially independent player.
Then the casino will do the taking and you will do the giving. You’ll experience a string of losses and go to bed as the old you, just slightly more depressed than the night before (if possible).
How much do you intend to invest in this safe business venture called Martingale Inc? Let’s say you move in with 200 USD and start making 1 USD bets. How could this possibly be a loser?
Well, let’s see what a sequence of doubled bets looks like:
Nbr of doublings – Amount to bet
1 2
2 4
3 8
4 16
5 32
6 64
7 128
8 256
9 512
10 1024
As you can see, if you lose 7 times in a row, you will not be able to double again with your puny 200 USD (plus some winnings). Then it’s goodnight Mr Martingale.
So what’s the risk of having 7 straight losses? Surely that must be a very, very unlikely event?
The risk is slightly less than 0.5%. Do you think that sounds safe enough? Well it’s not safe at all.
On average, this unlikely event (seven consecutive losses) will happen after 102 rounds of perfect Martingale strategy, that is, after 102 small wins. In an online casino this takes maybe half an hour. Then the money is gone.
If you’re lucky it will take an hour. Then the money is gone.
(To be correct, all money is not gone. But you’re left with less money than you started with, and a renewed Martingale attempt will be brought to a crashing end even sooner than the first one.)
Martingale sessions are characterised by lots and lots of small wins mixed up with a few big losses. The typical Martingale session ends with one massive loss. Then it’s game over.
You might also want to ask yourself if you’re prepared to bet 100 or 200 USD on the roulette, at all. Playing the Martingale system may get pretty damn nerve wrecking. Even before you experience the loss of your life.
Alternative proof: Online casinos offer roulette
If the very simple Martingale system actually did work, why would any online casino give players the opportunity to make a guaranteed profit night after night?
Roulette would be a dead game!
Do you think online casino owners never heard about the Martingale system? Do you really think people who invest millions of dollars in a business venture will be unaware of the most basic stuff in the business? Let me tell you, they are the experts. They know it all.
And still, all online casinos offer roulette. Why is that, do you think?
Play roulette and have a great time
That said, should you stop playing roulette? Of course not. It’s a nice, classic game, and cashing a small win once in a while certainly is not impossible.
The only thing that is impossible in roulette is a guaranteed win. Anyone who claims the contrary is probably after your money.
