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Of all the roulette strategies available, the Martingale is by far the most popular, but can you beat online casinos with this strategy? Read on to find out the advantages and disadvantages that come with the popular roulette system.

Martingale Background

The Martingale strategy is an old strategy, and believe it or not, it hasn’t only been used on roulette tables. Dating back to the 18th century where it was used on one of the most simply games to exist; heads or tails on a flip of a coin. Many have spent time researching how and why it got its name, nobody is entirely sure, but many believe Martingale came from the name of a London casino owner; John Henry Martindale, who despite claiming the casino always had the house edge, would always win in the end. This lead to him encouraging visitors to the casino, to place double value bets when they lost, to make back their losses. In the 19th century, Charles Wells became incredibly rich by adopting the Martingale strategy; he managed to turn 4,000 Franc into 1,000,000 in just three days at a Monte Carlo casino!

The Martingale Strategy

Martingale is a strategy that you could use time after time at the roulette table; from Auto-Roulette to Immersive Roulette, as long as it’s a roulette game, the strategy can be adopted. All you have to do is to double the value of your stake every time you have a losing bet, but should you win, you go back to the value of your original bet. You should only bet on alternatives that give you double the stake back when using Martingale; odds/evens, number or red/black. An example of this is:

Place a £1 bet on the red option – the ball comes to rest on a red section within the roulette wheel so you win. In the next round, you play with a £1 stake because you won. As soon as you lose, your next bet should be doubled to £2, to make up for the losses in the second round. Your £2 bet loses, so next bet is doubled to £4. When you hit a win, go back to £1 stake and start all over again. By doubling your last stake on losses, you will always have a net profit on your original bet, but, you’ll need a fairly decent sized bankroll to be able to do this, as doubling up is not always guaranteed to see a win before your funds dry up. With a £1 bet and nine losses, you will have spent £512 just to get your £1 back – but what are the chances of losing nine times in a row? We have the figure here; it’s 1,000:1 which is uncommon, but the risk is there.

To use the Martingale strategy or not will effectively come down to the amount of money you have to wager and whether you’re willing to risk it all. But here are some statistics to help make your mind up for you;

Thirty rounds on the roulette wheel at £1 a bet on red/black or odds/evens, regardless if you win or lose, you should see on average a 46% session profit, but with Martingale in play, you would see your 30 spins increase to 82% profit.

The Times and Star encourages readers to gamble responsibly. For advice and information, please visit the BeGambleAware website here for free, confidential help. ​