The Martingale Roulette System
This is without a doubt the most famous system used in gambling; and it’s not just restricted to roulette. Many love it, praising it as the best system in roulette. Others think that too large a bankroll is needed to make this a system worth trying. To see what we think, keep reading…
The Martingale Roulette System has a very simple premise – increase your bet after every loss, then when you win you return to betting the original amount. Typically the system is used with the red/black, odd/even or 1-18/19-36 outside bets, with bets doubled after each loss. When the player wins, all losses are recovered and the round ends, with a total profit equal to the starting bet. Being such a simple system, it’s easy to understand why it is so popular.
How the Martingale Roulette System Works
For example, here is a scenario which, over 5 spins, results in a profit for the player.
| Spin | Bet | Win/Lose | Profit |
| 1 | 1 | Lose | -1 |
| 2 | 2 | Lose | -3 |
| 3 | 4 | Lose | -7 |
| 4 | 8 | Lose | -15 |
| 5 | 16 | Win | 1 |
So with 4 losses compared to just 1 win, the player makes a profit equal to the starting bet.
RECOMMENDED CASINOS TO PLAY Martingale Roulette System
The Benefits of the Martingale Roulette System
As demonstrated in the table above, despite more losses than wins, the player comes out with a profit. This of course is the main benefit of the system. By doubling your bet with every loss, you ensure you always cover your losses and come out with a profit once you eventually have a win. The other benefit to this system is its simplicity. Some systems, for example the Labouchere (see here) are a bit too complicated and as such might be avoided when playing at a real casino.
The disadvantages
Those of you who have looked past the seemingly infallible system will have noticed that by doubling up every time you lose, the player could soon end up placing enormous bets. Let’s say one starts with a bet of £10. Here’s how a reasonably likely scenario could play out:
| Spin | Bet | Win/Lose | Profit |
| 1 | 10 | Lose | -10 |
| 2 | 20 | Lose | -30 |
| 3 | 40 | Lose | -70 |
| 4 | 80 | Lose | -150 |
| 5 | 160 | Lose | -310 |
| 6 | 320 | Lose | -630 |
| 7 | 640 | Win | 10 |
You can see that with a pretty low bet of just £10, after just 6 losses, a bet of £640 must be placed just to make a profit of £10. More losses will quickly result in even larger bets, which can be beyond the players bankroll, meaning the player must abandon the round and suffer a large loss.
Conclusion
The Martingale roulette system is not the ultimate system, and has no guarantee of making you rich. For those of you who are able to bring a very large amount of money to the table, it might be worth a try. Make sure to stick with low bets though, because as I have demonstrated above, it doesn’t take long before the bets become uncontrollably large.