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A '''martingale''' is a kind of gambling system that gives the illusion of being a "sure thing." The illusion is a complete deception. It is fairly easy to see why the simplest form of martingales do not work, but complicated kinds of gambling system may be harder to see through. Like perpetual motion, a working gambling system—one that guarantees a gambler always wins in the long run—is impossible, if it is a true game of chance and if the gambler is playing a fair game (or playing against a house percentage).

A '''martingale''' is a kind of [[gambling]] system that gives the illusion of being a "sure thing." The illusion is a complete deception. It is fairly easy to see why the simplest form of martingales do not work, but complicated kinds of gambling system may be harder to see through. Like perpetual motion, a working gambling system—one that guarantees a gambler always wins in the long run—is impossible, if it is a true game of chance and if the gambler is playing a fair game (or playing against a house percentage).

A martingale essentially consists of "double or nothing," doubling up the bet until the gambler wins. The sizes of the bets increase in such a way that when the gambler eventually wins, the bet is so large that it more than recoups all the previous losses. (The name ''martingale'' in fact comes from the name of a kind of horse harness in which the straps repeatedly split into two).

A martingale essentially consists of "double or nothing," doubling up the bet until the gambler wins. The sizes of the bets increase in such a way that when the gambler eventually wins, the bet is so large that it more than recoups all the previous losses. (The name ''martingale'' in fact comes from the name of a kind of horse harness in which the straps repeatedly split into two).