Do betting systems work?

Let’s test the Martingale betting system on a roulette table.

The idea is simple. You bet on a colour, here it’s black. If you lose, like we just have, you double your stake for the next spin. And when you finally win, like this, you get back everything you lost, plus your first stake.

Let’s try it again on a real table. One chip on even. Twenty-three, that’s odd, so we lose. We double to two chips. Twenty-seven, odd again. So we double to four chips. Eighteen, even, we win! After three spins, we’re up by just one chip.

Now watch what happens in a losing run. One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, and then a hundred and twenty-eight pounds.

After eight losses in a row, you’ve lost two hundred and fifty-five pounds. And the next bet is two hundred and fifty-six pounds, all to win one pound.

Eight losses in a row sounds rare, but on red it happens about once in every two hundred tries. Play for long enough and it will happen. And most tables have a maximum bet that stops you doubling anyway.

No betting system changes the house edge. The Martingale just swaps lots of small wins for the risk of one very big loss.

So, three simple tips. Don’t chase your losses, pick a stake and stick to it, and decide when you’ll stop before you start. You can test the system yourself in our free Martingale simulator.

Set a budget before you play. You’ll find more guides at UKCasinoTips.com.