The Martingale Betting System is one of the most popular betting systems of playing Scratch Cards. There are other applications also of this system which can be found in other games like baccarat and blackjack. This betting system takes back its origination to the 18th century in France. Here the principle is that the player has to double his bet each time he loses, until he wins which leaves him with a small profit equal to his original stake. The simplest of these strategies was designed for a game which tosses a coin and the player wins his stake if a coin comes up heads and loses it if it comes up tails. The player keeps doubling his stake till the time he wins and all his losses get cancelled. However, it is an example of what is known as the Taleb distribution; this is a strategy that looks like providing less risk in the short term but which can in due course lead to extreme losses in the future. The strategy had the gambler double his bet and at the end when the player wins, recover all previous losses plus win a profit equal to the amount that he had put originally. But for a very long time, this system has been used by gamblers.

Disadvantages / Cons

This system is criticized for a lot of reasons. It relies on the proposition that after a number of trials, a player will be bound to win. While there might be a case where a person does not win even once. In such a case he is sure to incur heavy losses. But the fact remains that the probability of winning is 0.5 every time, no matter how many times you lose. And moreover an ordinary casino does not have infinite betting limits. At each turn when your losses at doubling, you have a greater exposure to risk or loss, which might be very less than the small gains that the player might have experienced. This is a strategy that tries to negate the gambler’s losses by doubling his wager after each loss. This system does give any promise of return after a specified number of bets. In theory, once the gambler gets that next win, it cancels out all of his losses and he will come out ahead. With an unlimited amount of money to wager on the slots, the system could work. The Martingale system is a betting system that needs a big bankroll having a very low return. This is sometimes used by the casinos as an advantage. They impose high number of bets which keeps maximizing one’s level of risk. Here in this case, the system or the casino does not give the player any chance of recovering his losses.

The amount of risk exposure that this game carries can be explained with the help of an example:

Suppose a player is playing at a casino with a $1000 bet limit. The player starts with $1 initially. But every time the player bets, he loses. So the subsequent bets are of $2, then $4, then $8, $16, $32, $64, $128, $256 and finally $512. But after this the player cannot play because the table limit has been reached. And it is quite possible that a person loses ten times in a row. This is one of the major setbacks of this case wherein the player will not be able to recoup his losses. And all this for a $1 profit. This system can make a person incur huge losses. If the scratch card does not make you win, you have to keep betting with double the stake. This game is tempting as the person is always optimistic of a win in the subsequent bet. This attitude can make a gambler go bankrupt in minutes; in case he puts a lot of his stake on it. The Martingale System is a very old and simple betting system played in most online casinos. Even though the probability of winning is half, one can lose infinite times.

Advantages / Pros

Along with the disadvantages that we discussed in the previous paragraph, it has a few advantages also. The best thing about this system is its simplicity and understandability. Since the martingale betting system provides a positive rate of return theoretically it is preferred by many players because of its simplicity. This can be explained with an example:

Suppose the player puts his first bet on the scratch card. Unfortunately it comes out to be negative. Now the player will have to put double his stake and buy again. Again he loses and again he buys. This way he keeps increasing his stake for six times. But the seventh time he turns out to be lucky and wins. In this case the player will recover all his losses which become a major factor why so many gamblers always want to use this gaming system. One more benefit worth mentioning is that you also minimize risking winnings with the Martingale since the gambler’s bets don’t increase following a win. The Martingale betting system is one of the easiest ones to learn and to put into live play on any casino game.

Strategy to Follow with this System

One strategy that players use to diminish the risk with such progressive systems is by setting limits so that the player does not reach a point of unrecoverable losses. The premise of the system relies on the idea of doubling a bet each time a hand is lost.

It has been said that with Blackjack’s fast changing and fast paced action, this probability based system can be very helpful, but only if one takes calculative risks. Also the player should know when to stop if luck is just not favoring.

The Martingale system needs cash balance to bet upon and is a hazardous one however it provides a positive return rate and a chance to coming back to a point where the player loses nothing at all. Which clearly proves that in spite of its uncertain nature, it is still widely used by a lot of gamblers.

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