The Martingale Betting System

Although many casino players and experts will tell you that betting systems are a fallacy, it is still important for you to know the alternatives that you can play by when betting on the roulette table. The Martingale betting system is used by most gamblers in the world, especially those betting on 50/50 possibility bets (also known as even bets).

In the game of roulette such bets include the black/red, odd/even, 1 to 18 and 19 to 36 bets. Of course these bets are technically not 50/50 bets due to the occurrence of a zero and double zero in the instance of American Roulette.

In fact, the occurrence of the zero in roulette is what gives the house its edge – 2.70% for the European single zero roulette and 5.26% for the American single and double zero roulette variation. It is therefore a no-brainer that players should steer away from the American version if they have a choice, and with online casinos they certainly do.

The Martingale system is one of the simplest betting systems you can find. It states that players should double their bets after a losing round and keep on doubling until they win. You therefore bet on black, for example, and double your bets until the ball falls into a black pocket on the roulette wheel.

The alternative Martingale method on the other hand will then have you bet on red until you win. Let us take a look at a full hypothetical example of the Martingale betting system at play:

Bet 1:

You can of course bet only on one color if you do not wish to alternate colors, but for the sake of statistical probability, it is a good idea to play both colors equally. Remember that you can implement the Martingale System with any so called ‘fifty-fifty’ bet such as the bets discussed earlier in this article.

The Martingale System is Problematic

As you can see, losing more than four times in row will get you up to $32 and a further $64 on a single color bet. Because all online roulettes have table limits, say $100 per bet, you can only go up to 7 losing rounds before you will be obligated to start over. Online casinos have created table limits exactly for this reason, so that players carrying hefty bankrolls cannot exponentially double their bets until they eventually win. Now, if you believe that luck will go your way and not beyond 7 losing bets, you can go ahead and plat the Martingale system unreservedly.

The Martingale system should only be used for fifty-fifty bets due to table limits. If you were to bet on a single number, which has much higher odds but a lower probability of winning and a much higher house edge, the table limit will almost always be reached before you can attain a win. It is therefore imperative that you bet on alternatives with the lowest house edge such as black/red or odd/even bets.