The Martingale Gambling Betting System

The Martingale betting system is among the most notorious of betting systems. Although it has been proven as wrong and that it leads to great losses, it is still in use by many gamblers, who still believe in it. In the Martingale system, you bet one unit after every win, but when you lose, you double the amount of money that you bet. This system has been around since the days of the Pharaohs and earned its name from the proprietor of a London gambling establishment who would encourage his customers to "double up and catch up." The Martingale system produces a number of small wins punctuated by huge losses. In any case, you cannot continue if after a series of losses you either lose all your money, or you exceed the maximum at the table.

On the other side there is the anti-Martingale betting system. Here you bet one until after every loss, but double the stakes after every win. If carried to the end, you inevitably lose, but because of this few use a pure anti-Martingale, but instead prefer to modify it somewhat. You limit the number of doubled bets, or increase the stakes by less than double, or alternate both.

Written by Henry Leary, Casino Advisor. 12.12.05

Related Articles