The Martingale System – Overcoming the Odds?
Gamble Responsibly
- Only gamble with money you can afford to lose.
- Set spending limits and stick to them.
- Avoid gambling when emotional or under the influence.
- Only bet on familiar gambling games after you learn their rules.
- Contact problem gambling organizations if concerned about gambling habits.
However, if you ask the most successful roulette winner players, they do not like it very much and don’t use it at all. The Martingale is rather risky, and all it actually does is increasing your chances to win in the short term. Essentially, you are betting big to win small. You will likely win more spins than usual, but the amounts you win will be small, while the amounts you lose have the potential of being much, much bigger.
Using the Martingale System
The most effective way of using the Martingale is to only bet on even-money outside bets – 1-18, 19-36, Red, Black, Even, and Odd. They have the maximum odds of winning (almost 50%), but the lowest payout of all – 1:1. This means you win the same amount of money you bet for the spin. Overall, those are the safest bets you could possibly place in a game of roulette. If you want to try out these types of bets, you can check out these best online casino USA sites which offer roulette games.
Placing Bets & Doubling Up
Even when you play in one of the secure online casino sites, you should start with a small amount, preferably the table minimum, and keep betting the same until you lose. When this occurs, double the size of your bet for the next spin. This way, in case you win, you will recover the money you lost on the previous round, and win something extra. If you keep on losing, keep on doubling your bet – the logic stays the same. As soon as you win, you should restart and bet the smallest amount for the next spin. Rinse and repeat.
In theory, you can go on like this forever, doubling up after every loss and earning a small profit after every win. The harsh reality, however, is that there are many factors that are likely to screw over your perfect system and make you lose a lot of money. This system can also be used for the most popular iSoftBet roulette online games as well because they also have interesting rules and attractive gameplay.
Can Martingale Beat the House Edge?
We agree that the concept is flawless and you can use it even at new live casino sites – but the house will always end up winning eventually. In this case, the main villain is the green zero pocket, which represents the house edge in its purest form. Because of it, the odds will always be against you, despite of the way you bet. The safest outside bets have almost 50% chance of winning – 48.6%, to be precise, because of the green zero that doesn’t fall into any category except its own.
The odds are not in your favour, and the Martingale system cannot do anything about it. Unfortunately, this is true for literally every roulette strategy out there. If you wish to try out this strategy at some of our top high stakes roulette sites, feel free to do so. Indian players who wish to test this strategy may do so at the best roulette websites in India, which can be found here.
Hidden Dangers When Using Martingale
We already mentioned that the Martingale system is considered extremely risky and is rarely used by experienced players. The main issue is that by using it, you can run out of money very quickly – only after a few rounds, if bad luck strikes. On top of that, most online live roulette UK tables have betting limits, and it is very likely that you will hit them during a long losing streak – thus not being able to double up again and recover the money you’ve lost. This is where the Martingale system fails hard, and can cause you a lot of problems.
| Graph | Round | Bet | Total Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | £1 | £1 |
| 2 | £2 | £3 | |
| 3 | £4 | £7 | |
| 4 | £8 | £15 | |
| 5 | £16 | £31 | |
| 6 | £32 | £63 | |
| 7 | £64 | £127 | |
| 8 | £128 | £255 | |
| 9 | £256 | £511 | |
| 10 | £512 | £1023 | |
| 11 | £1024 | £2047 | |
| 12 | £2048 | £4095 |
This table that shows how alarmingly fast you can lose a lot while utilising the Martingale. Also, don’t forget that your profit will always be the initial amount of money you bet. You might find yourself in a situation where you have to bet £1024 to win a measly £1.
The Odds of a Brutal Losing Streak
Many players take those numbers lightly, thinking that it is highly unlikely to lose 10 times in a row on even bets. Let’s do the math and see exactly how unlikely it is, for both European and American Roulette. For example, the chance of red not hitting for ten spins straight, is:
- EUEuropean: (19/37)^10 = 0.1275%
- USAmerican: (20/38)^10 = 0.1631%
We are calculating the probability of the scenario ‘red not hitting for 10 spins in a row’ and not ’black hits 10 times in a row’, because they are not the same thing. We need to take the zeros into account – you can get 5 blacks in a row, 1 zero, and 4 blacks after that, which equals to ‘red not hitting for 10 spins in a row’.
Focusing of European Roulette, the odds that your colour will not hit for 10 rounds in a row is 1 to 784. This might seem good, but keep in mind that the odds are like this only at the start of the game. While you play, the odds will change, and if you manage to lose five games in a row, the chance that you will continue doing it will increase with time.
If the starting bet is £1, odds of 1 to 784 indicate that you should expect to win around £784 before going on a 10 round losing streak, which will cost you £1023. As you can see, the Martingale system indeed does increase your chances of winning in the short term, but the losses will eventually outweigh the winnings over the course of a longer game. And you need to play longer games in order to win an acceptable amount of money to make up for all your trouble. You can find more gambling opportunities at the low bet roulette casinos in the UK that will allow you to play with lower minimum deposits.
So, Can Martingale Help Me Win?
The Martingale system will bring you small winnings in the short term, but because of the steep progression, it’s an extremely risky strategy to use in the long term. In the end, the amount you’ve lost will surely outweigh the amount you’ve managed to win. It might seem to work at first, but the math doesn’t lie. A better idea is to join one of the best fast payout casinos as you will benefit from faster transactions and better payouts. You can also try the best roulette app for iPhone to test this strategy at any time on your favourite mobile roulettes.
Every player has a bad experience with this system sooner or later. We are giving you a fair warning – don’t make extensive use of it in the long run! You might end up losing a lot of money and love for the game of roulette. If you are eager to explore more gambling opportunities, we advise you to check out the best roulette sites in the UK and see what features they can offer. You can also visit our detailed article about the top £5 deposit casino if you want to start slow and not spend too much money on online gambling.
Written by: Luke Holmes