Ok so here’s the rules

  • I just bet on red every time
  • I start with 1 dollar
  • every time I lose, I triple my previous bet
  • every time I win I restart

I’m going to simulate 10 games

  • Game 1 - Bet $1 Lose
  • Game 2 - Bet $3 Lose
  • Game 3 - Bet $9 Win $18
  • Game 4 - Bet $1 Lose
  • Game 5 - Bet $3 Lose
  • Game 6 - Bet $9 Win $18
  • Game 7 - Bet $1 Lose
  • Game 8 - Bet $3 Lose
  • Game 9 - Bet $9 Lose
  • Game 10 - Bet $18 Win $36

In this simulation I’m losing at a rate of 70%. In reality the lose rate is closer to 52%. I put in $54 but I’m walking away with $72, basically leaving the building with $18.

Another example. Let’s pretend I walk in with $100,000 to bet with. I lose my first 10 games and win the 11th.

  • 1 lose
  • 3 lose
  • 9 lose
  • 27 lose
  • 81 lose
  • 243 lose
  • 729 lose
  • 2187 lose
  • 6561 lose
  • 19683 lose
  • 59049 win $118098

$88573 spent out of pocket, $118098 won

Walk out with roughly $29525.

I get most casinos won’t let you be that high but it’s a pretty extreme example anyway, the likelyhood of losing 10/11 games on 48% odds is really unlikely.

So help me out here, what am I missing?

  • ZagamTheVile@lemmy.world
    42·
    11 months ago

    Remember, betting red isn’t a 50/50 chance of winning. 0 and 00 are green. So your odds at winning are about 48% with 0, or 47% with 00. Same with odd/even bets. There’s a reason casinos add the 0’s. They aren’t in the business to give you money.

    • davidgro@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 months ago

      That’s a reason OP went with tripling the bet instead of the more common doubling when people independently discover this system.

      • ZagamTheVile@lemmy.world
        2·
        11 months ago

        Yes but a 45% win chance is the same long term losing plan no matter how much you bet. I could bet 10 times the amount every time I lose and I’ll still have a 45% chance of winning.

        • davidgro@lemmy.world
          1·
          11 months ago

          Yes that is true… if you end at a “random” point (running out of money for example). But if you can always end at a win (particularly a large one after a string of many losses) then that changes things, the odds become much less relevant because you are manipulating them.*

          The problem is that consistently doing so would require genuinely unlimited money and no betting limits, since the number of losses-that-can-happen-in-a-row is itself unlimited. With that little detail the Martingale system would actually work.
          Then again if you have unlimited money then why bother to gamble?

          *(Actually I sorta take back my first comment in this thread, the odds aren’t why to triple, just growing the pot faster each win is)