The Martingale System in Online Casinos – Strategy & Tips

Last Updated on August 15, 2024 by Mary

Systems. Betting systems, staking systems, and all kinds of systems come and go. Some are useful, and some are not. Some have proven to be successful, while others have proven to be a waste of the paper that they were printed on.

For centuries, players have tried to devise betting and staking systems in an effort to generate profits from a variety of games.

In this article, we’re going to focus on one very specific and very well-known system. One that was first used in the 18th century and is still popular today in online casinos particularly. It’s the Martingale System.

If you’ve spent any time researching the world of gambling, then you’ve probably come across the Martingale System. It’s certainly no secret. It is a simple betting strategy that has commonly been used by many gamblers playing games such as roulette or blackjack.

Origins of the Martingale System

The Martingale System is a gambling-orientated staking system that has been around for a very long time. The exact origins of the system have never been fully confirmed, though we know the system came to prominence in the early 1900s, when John Henry Martindale, who was a businessman and casino owner in London, England, promoted the use of the system, though he was not the creator of the system.

Around this time, more and more players began to use the Martingale System when playing common casino games such as roulette, working on the premise that, eventually, they would arrive at a profit. However, such players soon found out that things are never quite that simple, but more on that in a while.

Martingale System Basics

The Martingale System is simple in design. All it really involves is a player doubling their stake after every losing bet. So, let’s say that you bet £10 on the spin of a roulette wheel. Let’s assume that you place your £10 bet on Black. The wheel is spun, and the ball lands on a Red number. Therefore, you lose your bet. According to the Martingale System, you should repeat your bet but double your stake.

After losing your initial £10 bet, the Martingale System states that you should place a £20 bet. If this bet wins, you will double your money, earning a return of £40, meaning that you’ve arrived at a profit of £10 (£40 minus your total stake of £30).

If your second bet loses, you will have lost £30. On your third bet, you should once again double your stake from £20 to £40. If your bet wins, you will get a return of £80, again meaning that you arrive at an overall profit of £10. Essentially, for every loss, you must continue to bet by doubling your stake. In theory, doing so means that you will arrive at a guaranteed profit as soon as you win. In this case, you will achieve profit as soon as the ball lands on a Black number.

The trouble is that while the Martingale System does indeed guarantee a profit as long as you double your bet size after each loss until you win, it doesn’t account for the fact that not every player can continue to double their stake until they win. It’s far from unlikely that you’ll go on a long losing run of 10, 15, or even 20 bets, before which time you could quite easily run out of money, meaning that you no longer have the funds to continue doubling your bet until your luck changes.

Martingale System Pros & Cons

As with everything, there are pros and cons to the Martingale System, though it could quite easily be argued that the cons of this system outweigh the pros.

Pros

There are, of course, a few pros to the Martingale System. Firstly, it is not a complex system. It is easy to understand and simple to deploy. You do not need any specific in-depth knowledge to use the system.

If you are someone with very deep pockets and a bankroll that can withstand even the longest of losing runs, then the Martingale System works well.

Cons

There is only one obvious con with the Martingale System, but it’s a rather sizable one, and it’s a con that makes the system unusable for lots of people.

The main drawback to the Martingale System is that its very design is based on the assumption that any given player has an unlimited bankroll, which is far from true in most cases.

The average casino player does not have the financial backing to use the Martingale System with any level of serious confidence. Why? Because it’s very plausible that they will lose all of their funds before hitting a win.

We’ve touched on this above, but let’s go into it in a little more detail. OK, so, sure, if you’re playing roulette and taking an even-money bet such as Red, Black, Odd, or Even, you will absolutely arrive at a profit the moment you win if you keep doubling your bet after each loss. However, when placing such bets, losing runs are very common. They happen all the time. Some losing runs last for only three spins, some four, some five. Now, many players

Therefore, the primary problem with the Martingale System is that it CANNOT guarantee that profit will be achieved. It is very much a high-risk system in the sense that it’s highly possible that players using it will lose all of their money before they get a chance to arrive at a profit.

Martingale System Summary

In summary, the Martingale System is built on an interesting concept, especially when it comes to roulette, and in theory, it is a very good system, one that does appear to perform the function that it was designed to carry out. As long as you can afford to keep doubling your bet when placing even-money bets on selections such as Red or Black on the spin of a roulette wheel, you will eventually arrive at a profit. That is a mathematical certainty.

Unfortunately, though, as mentioned above, the significant drawback is that most players simply cannot afford to keep doubling their bets when enduring a sizable losing run. To be honest, the average casino player probably cannot afford to keep doubling their bet for long enough, even to withstand a relatively short losing run.

When attempting to deploy this system, lots of players will lose all of their funds sooner rather than later simply because they need far more money than they have access to in order to give themselves a strong chance of success. On that basis, the Martingale System, though seemingly useful, is ultimately flawed and quite heavily so.

Martingale System FAQs