However, no gambler has infinite wealth, and the exponential growth of the bets can bankrupt unlucky gamblers who choose to use the martingale, causing a catastrophic loss. Since a gambler will almost surely eventually flip heads, the martingale betting strategy is certain to make money for the gambler provided they have infinite wealth and there is no limit on money earned in a single bet. Thus the strategy is an instantiation of the St. The strategy had the gambler double the bet after every loss, so that the first win would recover all previous losses plus win a profit equal to the original stake. The simplest of these strategies was designed for a game in which the gambler wins the stake if a coin comes up heads and loses if it comes up tails. JSTOR ( August 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī martingale is a class of betting strategies that originated from and were popular in 18th-century France.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'Martingale' betting system – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
