The Grand Martingale. Another variation of the popular Martingale system is the Grand Martingale. In this particular system, instead of just doubling your bet after a loss, you double your bet and add one unit on top. So if you bet $5 on black and lose, you bet $10 + $5 = $15 on the next spin. The Reverse Martingale strategy for Roulette has a probability structure less favorable than the Martingale system. The main advantages of the Reverse Martingale system over not using a betting strategy is the low amount of cash required at the start and a higher average amount of cash at the end – if the player keeps winning. Martingale System in roulette. While you can head over to BetAmerica Casino and apply it to blackjack, the Martingale gambling system is more widely used in roulette because it works best when you can bet on 50/50 odds, or as close to them as you can. In roulette, you can bet on red or black, odd or even, or the 1-18 or 19-36 number groups at. However, this Martingale betting system for roulette is still prone to continuous defeats. The Anti-Martingale or Reverse Martingale System. It's not hard to guess that it's the opposite roulette system to Martingale. In this case, the player doubles their bet following a win and returns following a defeat.
Within the game of roulette, one system stands tall as the go to for players looking for an easy to understand, straightforward, winning strategy. The Martingale system has been used for over two centuries and continues to be the most popular roulette strategy choice for players. In this guide, you will learn exactly how the Martingale roulette strategy works, both in theory and in practice.
Further to this, we will give you an in-depth understanding of how the Martingale odds play out over the course of a game before discussing whether or not the system is technically legal. Finally, we will compare the Martingale roulette system against other well-known systems before ending with some of its shortcomings.
Martingale Roulette System – The Theory
With origins dating back to the 1800s, the Martingale system descends from probability theory where within a sequence of fixed random variables, there will always be a point where the next value will be equal to the present value. Now don't run away. With a simple example, this theory becomes very straight forward and easy to understand. First, think about a person continually betting on the outcome of flipping a coin where the outcomes are fixed – heads wins and tails loses. If the person betting was to double their bet after every loss, a win would recover all previous losses in one bet plus a profit equal to the first bet in the sequence. Don't believe me? Take a look at the the following section below and you will see it for yourself.
The idea behind this system is that at some point, you have to win, and this win will recover all your previous losses, plus one unit of profit. In layman's terms, double up until you win! By now, I'm sure you can see the attractiveness of such a system when utilised as a roulette strategy.
Martingale System in Practice
Now that you have a better understanding of how the Martingale system works in theory, let's have a look at a practical example in roulette. Similar to the above coin example, players will choose a ‘relatively' even-money bet. I say relatively because in roulette, these are not exactly 50 bets but we will discuss that in more detail later. In roulette these bets can be on low (1-18) or high (19-36) numbers, odd or even numbers or the most commonly used bet on red or black. For this example, we will be betting £1 on the probability that the ball lands on red.After the first spin, if the ball lands on red, we are very happy and have won our first bet with a profit of £1. If the ball lands on black and we have lost, at this point we will double our original bet from £1 to £2. If the ball then lands on red, we will have recovered our previous lost bet of £1 plus an additional unit of profit £1. If on our second spin, the ball lands on black and we lose again, we will continue doubling our bets on red until we win. No matter how long it takes, or the size of the bet, we will eventually win and recover our original bet.
But how will this strategy hold up if we lose five games in a row? The answer is: completely fine. Check out the above example and you will see just how straight forward the Martingale roulette system is in action.
Martingale Odds: Working Out Your Risk
The secret to the Martingale roulette strategy is really no secret at all; it's a simple numbers game. As referenced earlier, the success of the system is down to the assumption that at some point, after a series of losses, you have to win, and with this win, you can recover all of your losses plus one unit of profit. So how can we believe that a player will eventually recover all of his or her losses? In order to demonstrate this theory, we have outlined in the table below how a player can recover all of their losses, even after losing nine games in a row by utilising the Martingale strategy.
Spin Progression | Bet (Units) | Outcome | Total Profit |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Loss | -1 |
2 | 2 | Loss | -3 |
3 | 4 | Loss | -7 |
4 | 8 | Loss | -15 |
5 | 16 | Loss | -31 |
6 | 32 | Loss | -63 |
7 | 64 | Loss | -127 |
8 | 128 | Loss | -255 |
9 | 256 | Loss | -511 |
10 | 512 | Win | 1 |
So, the Martingale theoretical approach implies that, for instance, if you lose nine games in a row and double your bet on the following tenth spin, you will recover all of your losses and come out with a profit of plus one. Once you land a win after a series of consecutive losses, you start anew. The Martingale odds are stacked in your favour! Of course, Martingale only strictly works theoretically if you have the bank roll to support it.
Is the Martingale Strategy Legal?
As it stands, the use of the Martingale roulette system is perfectly legal. However, casinos do have countermeasures in order to decrease its effectiveness. One measure is to put in place maximum betting limits which mean, if a player is in a deep losing streak, there will come a point where they can no longer place a high enough bet to cover all their losses. For example, if a casino has a £500 maximum betting limit and a player has lost a £275 bet, they will not be able to double it £550. Another countermeasure to help reduce the players' odds of successfully utilising the Martingale strategy is the fabled ‘other' colour on the roulette wheel; the green. The green slots are filled with the number zero. In European Roulette there is only one slot and thus one zero, whereas in the American version there are two slots, one for zero and another for double zero. These green zeros represent the house edge. In European Roulette the green spread is worth 2.7% giving the house an edge of 51.35% in total. In American roulette, with two green slots, the spread is worth 5.26% giving the house an even bigger advantage of 52.6%.
Other Roulette Systems
Now that you've dipped your finger and got a taste of what the Martingale strategy has to offer, let's see how it compares to some of the other more niche systems available to roulette players today. The following two are just a preview of the available betting systems. If you're interested in finding out more about the existing strategies, we would recommend our comprehensive guide to roulette systems.
- Counts on winning and losing streaks
- Bet same after a loss
- Up wager by one unit after a win
- Less flexible than Martingale
- Advocates betting on 20+ numbers
- Numbers should be spread well
- Aims to reduce potential losses
- Somewhat chaotic, yet very flexible
The Oscar's Grind system is based on the idea that there are periods of both winning streaks and losing streaks. In brief, when you lose a bet, you bet the same amount and when you win, you raise the bet by one unit. The method can withstand many bad runs however, the Martingale system is far more resistant to alternating wins and losses in short streaks.
The Kavouras system involves betting different amounts on at least 20 numbers chaotically spread around the roulette wheel. This method eliminates possible dealer interference, places several defensive numbers in play to minimise potential future losses and offers the opportunity for big wins. The system is deliberately very chaotic and flexible, however, if you prefer a far more standardised system that you can follow, the Martingale strategy is the one for you.
The Downfall of the Martingale System
As with any roulette system, both pros and cons exist and the Martingale strategy is not without its flaws. If it was foolproof, we would all be millionaires by now! Theoretically, the Martingale system is really sound, however in reality, there are two gaping holes which cannot be ignored. Firstly, the theory assumes players have an unlimited bankroll and can withstand huge losses. For most people, this is not the case. Secondly, open-ended table limits very rarely exist. As discussed above, many casinos impose maximum betting limits on their roulette tables in order to inhibit players from recovering from large losses.
Whilst it is statistically very unlikely that you will ever be unlucky enough to lose eight, nine, even ten spins in a row, it will eventually happen. At the end of the day, the roulette wheel doesn't know you or remember your previous spins. In every spin, you either win or you *cough*die*cough* lose.
Conclusion
Whilst not completely fool proof, the Martingale roulette system can be a very useful way to ease yourself into a game of roulette and familiarise yourself with the mathematical side of gambling and odds. It is a very interesting theory and certainly worth testing out, but should always be played with low stakes at first. That said, if you prefer a high stakes game, we would recommend our guide to the best high stakes online casinos in the UK. If you want to find out more about roulette, check out our guide to the best online roulette casinos in the UK. Set yourself profit goals and loss limits so you don't get carried away and above all, enjoy yourself!
The Martingale is the most common system that players use. The idea is simple – you increase your bets after every consecutive loss and then when you win, you go back to betting the original amount and start over.
Most people use the Martingale on the even chance bets where it's known as the 'double up method' because you simply double your bets after every loss until you win, at which point you go back to betting the original amount.
The important thing to understand about the Martingale is that it can increase your chances of winning over the short term by betting big to win small. You will have more winning sessions than losing sessions, but your wins will be small and your losses, while less frequent, will be much bigger.
People regularly ask us which casino is best for the Martingale strategy and the answer to that is Royal Panda. their €0.10 – €200,000 table limits allow for all progressions and they have fast pay out times. Play at Royal Panda
To begin with, we're going to list the progressions for using the Martingale on the outside bets and then we're going to go a step further and list the losses at each step of the progression and then show you the odds of experiencing a long losing run. Following that, we will then list the progressions for the inside bets.
Even Chance Betting
1 – 2 – 4 – 8 – 16 – 32 – 64 – 128 – 256 – 512 – 1024 – 2048 – 4096 – 8192
That is the most common progression that you would use for Red/Black, Odd/Even and 1-18/19-36 betting. You don't have to stick to the above progression but you do have to stick to the rule of doubling your last bet. For example you could use either of the following instead:
3 – 6 – 12 – 24 – 48 – 96 – 192 or 5 – 10 – 20 – 40 – 80 – 160 – 320
So long as you're doubling your previous bet you're fine. We would not recommend starting off with a £3 or £5 bet though because as you can see, the higher your starting number, the quicker your bets become too risky. You should always start out with the lowest possible bet that the table limits will allow for.
If you've never used or heard of the Martingale before, here's exactly how you would use it, using the example of betting on Red. You would start by placing a £1 bet on Red, if it loses, you increase your next bet to £2. If this loses, you increase your next bet to £4 and so on.
You keep on doubling your bets every time you lose until you win. Then when you get the win, you go back to betting £1 again. You don't have to stick to betting on the same colour, it's totally up to you which one you bet on. So long as you keep doubling your bets, you will always be in profit when you get the win.
While the Martingale would appear to be a mathematically perfect and safe system with the small bets that it starts out with, don't get ahead of yourself. The losses soon add up and so do the numbers that you need to bet to cover the previous losses. Here's a table to illustrate this point:
Martingale On Even Chance Bets, Starting With A Bet of 1 £/$/€ | ||
---|---|---|
Losses | Bet Placed (£/$/€) | Total Loss |
1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 2 | 3 |
3 | 4 | 7 |
4 | 8 | 15 |
5 | 16 | 31 |
6 | 32 | 63 |
7 | 64 | 127 |
8 | 128 | 255 |
9 | 256 | 511 |
10 | 512 | 1023 |
11 | 1024 | 2047 |
The first thing that you need to understand about the table above is that the profit is always 1 £/$/€ no matter what stage of the progression you win at. Secondly, after 10 losses, your total loss would stand at 1023 and your next bet would need to be 1024 to cover those previous losses – a total outlay of 2047, all just to win 1 lousy £/$/€.
The Odds Of Losing 10 Spins In A Row
A lot of players dismiss these figures under the belief that getting 10 Reds or Blacks in a row is not going to happen, but the odds say otherwise. Let's say that you're betting on Black, here are the odds of Black not hitting for 10 spins in a row for both European and American roulette (these numbers would apply to any of the even money bets – Red/Black, Odd/Even and 1-18-19-36).
European Roulette: (19/37)^10 = 0.1275% – This works out at 1 in 784 chance.
American Roulette: (20/38)^10 = 0.1631% – This works out at 1 in 613 chance.
The reason these figures are for 'Black not hitting for 10 spins' rather than '10 Reds in a row' is because they take into account the Zeros. You could very feasibly have 5 Reds in a row, a Zero, and then a further 4 Reds in a row, resulting in Black not hitting for 10 spins in a row.
What These Numbers Mean
Using European roulette as an example, there's a 1 in 784 chance that the colour you're betting on is not going to hit for 10 spins in a row. But this number applies to the start of the event, not during. In other words, when you first spin the wheel there's a 1 in 784 that you will go on a run of your colour not hitting for 10 spins, but after 5 spins of your colour not hitting, the odds of that increasing to 10 are no longer 1 in 784 because you've already had 5 of them, so the odds reduce dramatically.
Also, with the odds being 1 in 784, you can expect to win £784 (give or take and starting out with a bet of £1) before you get a losing run of 10 in a row, resulting in a loss of £1023. So as you can see, the Martingale does increase your chances of short term winnings by betting big to win small, but the losses will out weigh the wins when they inevitably happen over long term play.
One thing that you should be aware of is that we have seen 15 colours in a row when playing roulette online so when this happens, you're going to lose if you're betting on the colour that isn't hitting. If you would like to see this for yourself then spend half an hour or so in our Free Roulette section and you will almost certainly see a long streak of colours.
The Martingale On The Dozens
If you alter the numbers accordingly, the Martingale can be used on the Dozens and Columns which are the two other outside bets. Each of them covers 12 numbers and the payout is 2:1 meaning that when you bet 1, you win 3 back. Here is the progression you would use on the dozens, followed by another chart that highlights the amount lost at each stage.
1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 9 – 14 – 21 – 31 – 47 – 70 – 105 – 158 – 237 – 355
Martingale On Dozens/Columns, Starting With A Bet of 1 £/$/€ | |||
---|---|---|---|
Losses | Bet Placed (£/$/€) | Total Loss | Profit If The Bet Wins |
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
4 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
5 | 4 | 11 | 1 |
6 | 6 | 17 | 1 |
7 | 9 | 26 | 1 |
8 | 14 | 40 | 2 |
9 | 21 | 61 | 2 |
10 | 31 | 92 | 1 |
11 | 47 | 139 | 2 |
12 | 70 | 209 | 1 |
13 | 105 | 314 | 1 |
14 | 158 | 472 | 2 |
15 | 237 | 709 | 2 |
16 | 355 | 1064 | 1 |
With this table, we've added a 'profit' column because the maths isn't as 'perfect' as it is for the even payout bets which means that the profit jumps up and down between 1 and 2. As you can see, the numbers go up slower than they do with the even chance bets but you're also covering less of the table so this is to be expected.
After 15 losses in a row, your total loss would stand at 709 and your next bet would need to be 355 to cover the previous losses. That's a total outlay of 1064 and betting large amounts on a bet that covers less than a third of the table is very risky.
15 spins in a row may seem like a lot without a Dozen or Column hitting but the odds tell a different story. Here are the odds of a particular Dozen or Column not hitting for 15 spins in a row on both European and American Roulette:
European Roulette: (25/37)^15 = 0.2793% – This works out at 1 in 358 chance.
American Roulette: (26/38)^15 = 0.3372% – This works out at 1 in 296 chance.
The odds say that 15 spins without a Dozen/Column hitting is a lot more likely than 10 spins without a Red/Black hitting. Also, using European roulette as an example, you can expect to win £358 (give or take starting with £1 a time) before you get 15 spins without your dozen hitting, resulting in a loss of £709 – almost double the winnings you'd have accumulated. Overall, the odds dictate that this is riskier than using the Martingale on the even chance bets.
Double Dozen Or Column Betting – This is an interesting idea where you bet on either two Dozens at the same time or two Columns at the same time using this progression.
1 – 3 – 9 – 27 – 81 – 243
What that progression means is betting the amounts above on two dozens at the same time rather than one. For example, 243 on 1st Dozen and 243 on 2nd Dozen.
With this style of betting you're covering over half of the table so you will win more than half of your bets so in that respect, it's a good system. The problem is that your bets are tripling after each loss so after just 6 losses, your total loss stands at 728 (1+3+9+27+81+243 = 364×2 = 728).
Here are the odds of the two Dozens or two Columns you're betting on not hitting for 6 spins in a row for European and American Roulette.
European Roulette: (13/37)^6 = 0.1881% – This works out at a 1 in 531 chance.
Is The Martingale System Illegal
American Roulette: (14/38)^6 = 0.2501% – This works out at a 1 in 399 chance.
Conclusion For Outside Bets – As you can see from all of the examples and maths provided above, the Martingale does not win enough during it's winning runs to cover the inevitable losing run. The odds of a losing streak provided above should not be taken literally; they're what you can expect over the long term of play rather than short term.
While the odds of your colour not hitting on European roulette for 10 spins may be a 1 in 784 chance, it could happen much sooner than that or later – that's gambling for you.
Table Limits – One final point we should make before moving on are the table limits. All roulette games both online and in real casinos have table limits and once you hit them, you can no longer increase your bets and stick to the progression. Typically, most online casinos will limit outside bets to around £500 per spin, in other words, it won't allow you to place a bet of £501 on Red.
The table limits vary from one online casino to another and while some casinos do have a higher table limit than £500, they usually have a higher minimum bet as well. In land based casinos, table limits vary greatly from one casino to another and they generally have higher minimum bets than online casinos, especially for the outside bets.
Inside Bets
You can also use Martingale style progressions on the inside bets and we have provided the progressions below. While we've provided the progressions below, we haven't provided the odds of 'X' amount of losses or profit/loss for different stages because there's so many different stages below that this page would become needlessly long and complicated. For more detailed descriptions on what these bets are, check out our page on Roulette Bets.
Line Bet – This is basically half of a Dozen bet. It bets on 6 numbers at the same time. The progression for betting on one Line until it wins is as follows:
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 17 – 21 – 25 – 30
Corner Bet – This is a 4 number bet that bets on a 'square' of numbers on the roulette table, for example, 1,2,4,5 is a Corner bet. Here is the progression:
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 16 – 18 – 20 – 23
Three Number Bet – There are different kinds of three number bets. You've got the Streets (12 of them) such as 1,2,3 and 34,35,36 (these are individual Street bets) and then you've got the 0,1,2 bet and the 0,2,3 bet. All of them use the following progression:
Martingale Online Roulette
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 6 – 7 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16
Split Bet – There are many Split bets on the roulette table and they're simply two number bets that are adjacent to each other on the table. Here's the progression for betting on a Split:
Roulette System Martingale Meaning
The idea behind this system is that at some point, you have to win, and this win will recover all your previous losses, plus one unit of profit. In layman's terms, double up until you win! By now, I'm sure you can see the attractiveness of such a system when utilised as a roulette strategy.
Martingale System in Practice
Now that you have a better understanding of how the Martingale system works in theory, let's have a look at a practical example in roulette. Similar to the above coin example, players will choose a ‘relatively' even-money bet. I say relatively because in roulette, these are not exactly 50 bets but we will discuss that in more detail later. In roulette these bets can be on low (1-18) or high (19-36) numbers, odd or even numbers or the most commonly used bet on red or black. For this example, we will be betting £1 on the probability that the ball lands on red.After the first spin, if the ball lands on red, we are very happy and have won our first bet with a profit of £1. If the ball lands on black and we have lost, at this point we will double our original bet from £1 to £2. If the ball then lands on red, we will have recovered our previous lost bet of £1 plus an additional unit of profit £1. If on our second spin, the ball lands on black and we lose again, we will continue doubling our bets on red until we win. No matter how long it takes, or the size of the bet, we will eventually win and recover our original bet.
But how will this strategy hold up if we lose five games in a row? The answer is: completely fine. Check out the above example and you will see just how straight forward the Martingale roulette system is in action.
Martingale Odds: Working Out Your Risk
The secret to the Martingale roulette strategy is really no secret at all; it's a simple numbers game. As referenced earlier, the success of the system is down to the assumption that at some point, after a series of losses, you have to win, and with this win, you can recover all of your losses plus one unit of profit. So how can we believe that a player will eventually recover all of his or her losses? In order to demonstrate this theory, we have outlined in the table below how a player can recover all of their losses, even after losing nine games in a row by utilising the Martingale strategy.
Spin Progression | Bet (Units) | Outcome | Total Profit |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Loss | -1 |
2 | 2 | Loss | -3 |
3 | 4 | Loss | -7 |
4 | 8 | Loss | -15 |
5 | 16 | Loss | -31 |
6 | 32 | Loss | -63 |
7 | 64 | Loss | -127 |
8 | 128 | Loss | -255 |
9 | 256 | Loss | -511 |
10 | 512 | Win | 1 |
So, the Martingale theoretical approach implies that, for instance, if you lose nine games in a row and double your bet on the following tenth spin, you will recover all of your losses and come out with a profit of plus one. Once you land a win after a series of consecutive losses, you start anew. The Martingale odds are stacked in your favour! Of course, Martingale only strictly works theoretically if you have the bank roll to support it.
Is the Martingale Strategy Legal?
As it stands, the use of the Martingale roulette system is perfectly legal. However, casinos do have countermeasures in order to decrease its effectiveness. One measure is to put in place maximum betting limits which mean, if a player is in a deep losing streak, there will come a point where they can no longer place a high enough bet to cover all their losses. For example, if a casino has a £500 maximum betting limit and a player has lost a £275 bet, they will not be able to double it £550. Another countermeasure to help reduce the players' odds of successfully utilising the Martingale strategy is the fabled ‘other' colour on the roulette wheel; the green. The green slots are filled with the number zero. In European Roulette there is only one slot and thus one zero, whereas in the American version there are two slots, one for zero and another for double zero. These green zeros represent the house edge. In European Roulette the green spread is worth 2.7% giving the house an edge of 51.35% in total. In American roulette, with two green slots, the spread is worth 5.26% giving the house an even bigger advantage of 52.6%.
Other Roulette Systems
Now that you've dipped your finger and got a taste of what the Martingale strategy has to offer, let's see how it compares to some of the other more niche systems available to roulette players today. The following two are just a preview of the available betting systems. If you're interested in finding out more about the existing strategies, we would recommend our comprehensive guide to roulette systems.
- Counts on winning and losing streaks
- Bet same after a loss
- Up wager by one unit after a win
- Less flexible than Martingale
- Advocates betting on 20+ numbers
- Numbers should be spread well
- Aims to reduce potential losses
- Somewhat chaotic, yet very flexible
The Oscar's Grind system is based on the idea that there are periods of both winning streaks and losing streaks. In brief, when you lose a bet, you bet the same amount and when you win, you raise the bet by one unit. The method can withstand many bad runs however, the Martingale system is far more resistant to alternating wins and losses in short streaks.
The Kavouras system involves betting different amounts on at least 20 numbers chaotically spread around the roulette wheel. This method eliminates possible dealer interference, places several defensive numbers in play to minimise potential future losses and offers the opportunity for big wins. The system is deliberately very chaotic and flexible, however, if you prefer a far more standardised system that you can follow, the Martingale strategy is the one for you.
The Downfall of the Martingale System
As with any roulette system, both pros and cons exist and the Martingale strategy is not without its flaws. If it was foolproof, we would all be millionaires by now! Theoretically, the Martingale system is really sound, however in reality, there are two gaping holes which cannot be ignored. Firstly, the theory assumes players have an unlimited bankroll and can withstand huge losses. For most people, this is not the case. Secondly, open-ended table limits very rarely exist. As discussed above, many casinos impose maximum betting limits on their roulette tables in order to inhibit players from recovering from large losses.
Whilst it is statistically very unlikely that you will ever be unlucky enough to lose eight, nine, even ten spins in a row, it will eventually happen. At the end of the day, the roulette wheel doesn't know you or remember your previous spins. In every spin, you either win or you *cough*die*cough* lose.
Conclusion
Whilst not completely fool proof, the Martingale roulette system can be a very useful way to ease yourself into a game of roulette and familiarise yourself with the mathematical side of gambling and odds. It is a very interesting theory and certainly worth testing out, but should always be played with low stakes at first. That said, if you prefer a high stakes game, we would recommend our guide to the best high stakes online casinos in the UK. If you want to find out more about roulette, check out our guide to the best online roulette casinos in the UK. Set yourself profit goals and loss limits so you don't get carried away and above all, enjoy yourself!
The Martingale is the most common system that players use. The idea is simple – you increase your bets after every consecutive loss and then when you win, you go back to betting the original amount and start over.
Most people use the Martingale on the even chance bets where it's known as the 'double up method' because you simply double your bets after every loss until you win, at which point you go back to betting the original amount.
The important thing to understand about the Martingale is that it can increase your chances of winning over the short term by betting big to win small. You will have more winning sessions than losing sessions, but your wins will be small and your losses, while less frequent, will be much bigger.
People regularly ask us which casino is best for the Martingale strategy and the answer to that is Royal Panda. their €0.10 – €200,000 table limits allow for all progressions and they have fast pay out times. Play at Royal Panda
To begin with, we're going to list the progressions for using the Martingale on the outside bets and then we're going to go a step further and list the losses at each step of the progression and then show you the odds of experiencing a long losing run. Following that, we will then list the progressions for the inside bets.
Even Chance Betting
1 – 2 – 4 – 8 – 16 – 32 – 64 – 128 – 256 – 512 – 1024 – 2048 – 4096 – 8192
That is the most common progression that you would use for Red/Black, Odd/Even and 1-18/19-36 betting. You don't have to stick to the above progression but you do have to stick to the rule of doubling your last bet. For example you could use either of the following instead:
3 – 6 – 12 – 24 – 48 – 96 – 192 or 5 – 10 – 20 – 40 – 80 – 160 – 320
So long as you're doubling your previous bet you're fine. We would not recommend starting off with a £3 or £5 bet though because as you can see, the higher your starting number, the quicker your bets become too risky. You should always start out with the lowest possible bet that the table limits will allow for.
If you've never used or heard of the Martingale before, here's exactly how you would use it, using the example of betting on Red. You would start by placing a £1 bet on Red, if it loses, you increase your next bet to £2. If this loses, you increase your next bet to £4 and so on.
You keep on doubling your bets every time you lose until you win. Then when you get the win, you go back to betting £1 again. You don't have to stick to betting on the same colour, it's totally up to you which one you bet on. So long as you keep doubling your bets, you will always be in profit when you get the win.
While the Martingale would appear to be a mathematically perfect and safe system with the small bets that it starts out with, don't get ahead of yourself. The losses soon add up and so do the numbers that you need to bet to cover the previous losses. Here's a table to illustrate this point:
Martingale On Even Chance Bets, Starting With A Bet of 1 £/$/€ | ||
---|---|---|
Losses | Bet Placed (£/$/€) | Total Loss |
1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 2 | 3 |
3 | 4 | 7 |
4 | 8 | 15 |
5 | 16 | 31 |
6 | 32 | 63 |
7 | 64 | 127 |
8 | 128 | 255 |
9 | 256 | 511 |
10 | 512 | 1023 |
11 | 1024 | 2047 |
The first thing that you need to understand about the table above is that the profit is always 1 £/$/€ no matter what stage of the progression you win at. Secondly, after 10 losses, your total loss would stand at 1023 and your next bet would need to be 1024 to cover those previous losses – a total outlay of 2047, all just to win 1 lousy £/$/€.
The Odds Of Losing 10 Spins In A Row
A lot of players dismiss these figures under the belief that getting 10 Reds or Blacks in a row is not going to happen, but the odds say otherwise. Let's say that you're betting on Black, here are the odds of Black not hitting for 10 spins in a row for both European and American roulette (these numbers would apply to any of the even money bets – Red/Black, Odd/Even and 1-18-19-36).
European Roulette: (19/37)^10 = 0.1275% – This works out at 1 in 784 chance.
American Roulette: (20/38)^10 = 0.1631% – This works out at 1 in 613 chance.
The reason these figures are for 'Black not hitting for 10 spins' rather than '10 Reds in a row' is because they take into account the Zeros. You could very feasibly have 5 Reds in a row, a Zero, and then a further 4 Reds in a row, resulting in Black not hitting for 10 spins in a row.
What These Numbers Mean
Using European roulette as an example, there's a 1 in 784 chance that the colour you're betting on is not going to hit for 10 spins in a row. But this number applies to the start of the event, not during. In other words, when you first spin the wheel there's a 1 in 784 that you will go on a run of your colour not hitting for 10 spins, but after 5 spins of your colour not hitting, the odds of that increasing to 10 are no longer 1 in 784 because you've already had 5 of them, so the odds reduce dramatically.
Also, with the odds being 1 in 784, you can expect to win £784 (give or take and starting out with a bet of £1) before you get a losing run of 10 in a row, resulting in a loss of £1023. So as you can see, the Martingale does increase your chances of short term winnings by betting big to win small, but the losses will out weigh the wins when they inevitably happen over long term play.
One thing that you should be aware of is that we have seen 15 colours in a row when playing roulette online so when this happens, you're going to lose if you're betting on the colour that isn't hitting. If you would like to see this for yourself then spend half an hour or so in our Free Roulette section and you will almost certainly see a long streak of colours.
The Martingale On The Dozens
If you alter the numbers accordingly, the Martingale can be used on the Dozens and Columns which are the two other outside bets. Each of them covers 12 numbers and the payout is 2:1 meaning that when you bet 1, you win 3 back. Here is the progression you would use on the dozens, followed by another chart that highlights the amount lost at each stage.
1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 6 – 9 – 14 – 21 – 31 – 47 – 70 – 105 – 158 – 237 – 355
Martingale On Dozens/Columns, Starting With A Bet of 1 £/$/€ | |||
---|---|---|---|
Losses | Bet Placed (£/$/€) | Total Loss | Profit If The Bet Wins |
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
4 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
5 | 4 | 11 | 1 |
6 | 6 | 17 | 1 |
7 | 9 | 26 | 1 |
8 | 14 | 40 | 2 |
9 | 21 | 61 | 2 |
10 | 31 | 92 | 1 |
11 | 47 | 139 | 2 |
12 | 70 | 209 | 1 |
13 | 105 | 314 | 1 |
14 | 158 | 472 | 2 |
15 | 237 | 709 | 2 |
16 | 355 | 1064 | 1 |
With this table, we've added a 'profit' column because the maths isn't as 'perfect' as it is for the even payout bets which means that the profit jumps up and down between 1 and 2. As you can see, the numbers go up slower than they do with the even chance bets but you're also covering less of the table so this is to be expected.
After 15 losses in a row, your total loss would stand at 709 and your next bet would need to be 355 to cover the previous losses. That's a total outlay of 1064 and betting large amounts on a bet that covers less than a third of the table is very risky.
15 spins in a row may seem like a lot without a Dozen or Column hitting but the odds tell a different story. Here are the odds of a particular Dozen or Column not hitting for 15 spins in a row on both European and American Roulette:
European Roulette: (25/37)^15 = 0.2793% – This works out at 1 in 358 chance.
American Roulette: (26/38)^15 = 0.3372% – This works out at 1 in 296 chance.
The odds say that 15 spins without a Dozen/Column hitting is a lot more likely than 10 spins without a Red/Black hitting. Also, using European roulette as an example, you can expect to win £358 (give or take starting with £1 a time) before you get 15 spins without your dozen hitting, resulting in a loss of £709 – almost double the winnings you'd have accumulated. Overall, the odds dictate that this is riskier than using the Martingale on the even chance bets.
Double Dozen Or Column Betting – This is an interesting idea where you bet on either two Dozens at the same time or two Columns at the same time using this progression.
1 – 3 – 9 – 27 – 81 – 243
What that progression means is betting the amounts above on two dozens at the same time rather than one. For example, 243 on 1st Dozen and 243 on 2nd Dozen.
With this style of betting you're covering over half of the table so you will win more than half of your bets so in that respect, it's a good system. The problem is that your bets are tripling after each loss so after just 6 losses, your total loss stands at 728 (1+3+9+27+81+243 = 364×2 = 728).
Here are the odds of the two Dozens or two Columns you're betting on not hitting for 6 spins in a row for European and American Roulette.
European Roulette: (13/37)^6 = 0.1881% – This works out at a 1 in 531 chance.
Is The Martingale System Illegal
American Roulette: (14/38)^6 = 0.2501% – This works out at a 1 in 399 chance.
Conclusion For Outside Bets – As you can see from all of the examples and maths provided above, the Martingale does not win enough during it's winning runs to cover the inevitable losing run. The odds of a losing streak provided above should not be taken literally; they're what you can expect over the long term of play rather than short term.
While the odds of your colour not hitting on European roulette for 10 spins may be a 1 in 784 chance, it could happen much sooner than that or later – that's gambling for you.
Table Limits – One final point we should make before moving on are the table limits. All roulette games both online and in real casinos have table limits and once you hit them, you can no longer increase your bets and stick to the progression. Typically, most online casinos will limit outside bets to around £500 per spin, in other words, it won't allow you to place a bet of £501 on Red.
The table limits vary from one online casino to another and while some casinos do have a higher table limit than £500, they usually have a higher minimum bet as well. In land based casinos, table limits vary greatly from one casino to another and they generally have higher minimum bets than online casinos, especially for the outside bets.
Inside Bets
You can also use Martingale style progressions on the inside bets and we have provided the progressions below. While we've provided the progressions below, we haven't provided the odds of 'X' amount of losses or profit/loss for different stages because there's so many different stages below that this page would become needlessly long and complicated. For more detailed descriptions on what these bets are, check out our page on Roulette Bets.
Line Bet – This is basically half of a Dozen bet. It bets on 6 numbers at the same time. The progression for betting on one Line until it wins is as follows:
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 17 – 21 – 25 – 30
Corner Bet – This is a 4 number bet that bets on a 'square' of numbers on the roulette table, for example, 1,2,4,5 is a Corner bet. Here is the progression:
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 12 – 14 – 16 – 18 – 20 – 23
Three Number Bet – There are different kinds of three number bets. You've got the Streets (12 of them) such as 1,2,3 and 34,35,36 (these are individual Street bets) and then you've got the 0,1,2 bet and the 0,2,3 bet. All of them use the following progression:
Martingale Online Roulette
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 6 – 7 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16
Split Bet – There are many Split bets on the roulette table and they're simply two number bets that are adjacent to each other on the table. Here's the progression for betting on a Split:
Roulette System Martingale Meaning
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 6 – 6 – 7 – 7 – 8 – 8 – 9 – 9 – 10 – 10 – 11
Single Number – Pretty self explanatory really, here's the progression for betting on a single number. An Important thing to keep in mind here is that we have seen over 400 online roulette spins without a number hitting. If you're betting on a number that isn't hitting it can become extremely costly so be careful.
1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 6 – 6 – 6 – 6 – 6 – 6
Conclusion – So here you have all the different progressions for the Martingale system. Remember that all parts of the roulette table can go for long periods without hitting and when this happens, you will either go bust or hit the table limits. If you would like to find games that have seriously high limits, check out our listings of high stakes roulette games which have maximums of up to £250,000.
One general tip would be to set yourself a stop loss limit or a step in the progression where you will walk away. For example, if you're betting on Red or Black you could say that if you get to the stage where you have to bet 32, bet it and stop if you lose. Sometimes this will stop you from going on to 64, 128, 256 and suffering a much bigger loss.
Does The Martingale System Work In Roulette
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