The Martingale system is an old-school betting strategy that gives you a higher chance of making a profit, even after a string of losses. Though it’s not as widely used today, it was one of the first betting methods to gain popularity. The main idea behind it is simple: you keep doubling your bet every time you lose so that when you finally win, you recover all your losses and still make a profit.
The system was particularly popular back in 18th-century France, where people used it for something as simple as a coin flip, or betting on heads or tails. The key here is that you didn’t get to choose the outcome—if you lost, you’d just double your stake until you eventually won.
How It Works
Let’s break it down using an example. Imagine you’re playing roulette with an initial bet of £10. You’d start by placing your bet on an even-money outcome, like red or black since these give you roughly a 50% chance of winning. Let’s say you pick red and place £10 on it. If it lands on red, you win £20 and simply place the same £10 bet on the next spin.
But if you lose, here’s where the Martingale kicks in. For your next bet, you’d double your stake, so now you bet £20. If that also loses, you’d double again, this time betting £40. You keep doubling the amount until you eventually win. When you do win, all the previous losses will be covered, and you’ll still come out with a profit equal to your original stake.
Here’s a simplified example to show how it works:
- Bet 1: Stake £10 – Lost
- Bet 2: Stake £20 – Lost
- Bet 3: Stake £40 – Lost
- Bet 4: Stake £80 – Lost
- Bet 5: Stake £160 – Lost
- Bet 6: Stake £320 – Win – Returns £640
After six bets, your total staked would be £630, but with the win on the sixth bet, you’d end up with a £10 profit.
Caution: The Risks of the Martingale System
While the Martingale system might sound like a surefire way to make a profit, there are some big risks involved. It works well in the short term when you can win a few bets in a row. But if you hit a streak of losses, things can quickly spiral out of control.
For example, if you start with a £10 bet and lose 13 times in a row, you’d be down an eye-watering £40,960! And here’s where it gets even trickier: many casinos have betting limits, usually around £1,000. So if you lose seven times in a row, you might not even be able to double your stake for the next bet. At that point, you’d be over £600 down without any real way to recover unless you manage to win on your next try within the betting limits.