If you have a lot – and we mean a lot – of spare cash to use in online casinos, then you may well be interested in the Martingale betting system. Warning: this casino strategy can be very lucrative, but you need deep pockets in order to be sure that you can make it work.
What is the martingale system?
It is so easy to explain this casino betting system that we can do so in a single short paragraph. Basically, when gamblers follow this system, they adhere to one single rule: double your bets after every single loss. Because we are dealing with doubles and binary either/or situations, the martingale betting system is best used with games like roulette where you are dealing with binary options (such as odd/ even numbers, and red/ green sections of the roulette wheel). Indeed, it was for roulette that this betting system was first designed (we’ll come to that in a minute).
What is the reasoning behind this system?
The idea is that if you keep on doubling your bets every time that you lose, by the time that you do win, you will win back all of the money that you have lost – and some more into the bargain. The trick is to have enough of a bankroll to enable you to keep on playing for as long as it takes for you to win that money back. There are plenty of mathematical proofs that the system works that you can find online, if you are interested.
So why the warning?
The Martingale betting system ought to be approached with caution because roulette is essentially a game of chance. You never know when you will finally win back that money you have lost, and the last thing that you want is to plough all of your bankroll into a Martingale strategy only to run out of money before you have won anything back. In short: this betting system can be very expensive. Say you bet £10 in the first round of roulette, and you lose. If you are following the Martingale betting system you will have to bet £20 in the next round. Say you lose again. Now you must bet £40. It is perfectly possible for you to lose 10 times in a row at roulette, which means that your eleventh bet will be for £4720. If you do win, you will probably be pocketing many thousands of pounds. If you lose, however, you will be betting nearly £10, 000 on a single spin of the roulette wheel. Do you have the type of bankroll that can support this type of gambling?
The history of the Martingale betting system
This betting strategy was initially created in order to bankrupt a casino. The casino owner was a Mr Martindale (his name was later corrupted to ‘Martingale’) and for financial reasons he thought that it would be in his best interests for his casino to go bankrupt. He encouraged his deep pocketed clients to play using the Martingale system, in full knowledge that if they played for long enough and won, he would be paying out huge sums of money. His scheme worked, and his establishment went bankrupt. Hooray?
Gambling responsibly
Gambling responsibly means knowing when to walk away from the table. With the Martingale betting system, it is best to walk away as soon as you have won. It also means not gambling with money that you cannot afford to lose completely. Taking money from the funds designated for paying bills, buying the weekly food shop or getting your children birthday presents is a sign of very irresponsible gambling. If you are gambling irresponsibly, it is best to get help sooner rather than later, as these problems can build up quickly. Most gamblers should recognise that pursuing the Martingale betting system would put their finances in considerable danger.
Deep pockets and a taste for change? Try the reverse Martingale betting system
If you are looking for another very dangerous way to gamble, the reverse Martingale is an interesting case study. Here, gamblers will double their bets every time that they win, rather than every time that they lose. As you can see, this makes this strategy the ‘reverse’ of the Martingale betting system.