If I play roulette at a casino, will I ultimately win if I keep doubling my bet on red or black?

Question

If I play roulette at a casino, will I ultimately win if I keep doubling my bet on red or black?

Answer 1

Odds are, you would win in the end.

Problem is if you lose too many times in a row, you will hit the table limit and have to move to a high stakes table.  Even then you are going to have to get pretty high.

Here's how it looks:

$5 - $10 - $20 - $40 - $80 - $160 - $320 - $640 - $1,280 - $2,560 etc.

If you are unfortunate enough to lose ten times in a row, which is certainly not impossible, you'd have gambled $5,115.  If you bet an 11th time, it's going to cost you $5,120 and if you win, you are back to a profit of $5.

But with that 11th bet, you had $10,235 on the line, just to get back to a $5 profit.  Do you really want to be putting $10K on the line just to get even again?

But let's say you get lucky, and bet $5 and win 10 times in a row.  Now you've won $50.  Yay!  What you going to do now?  You just embarked on a strategy that could have potentially lost you thousands, and you won $50.

Answer 2

I can't believe how wrong some of these answers are, lol... wait until a streak begins to improve your chances? ROFLMAO.

The previous spin on a roulette wheel has no affect on the next one... just because the last one spun up a red number, doesn't mean the next spin has a higher chance of being black! This is a fundamental concept in gambling, it would be a good idea to spend a little time thinking about it if you don't understand it.

Depending on whether your roulette wheel has the one '0' or both '0' and '00', you have about a 45-47% chance that any one spin will be red or black (irrespective of what the last spin was!), as the bet only pays even money, you're going to lose in the long run, guaranteed and betting to such a silly strategy is just going to lose youo a lot more money even quicker.

If you want to do further research, google 'Martingale theory', that's the term given to the system of doubling up - there are plenty of scams trying to peddle you stuff, but you'll mostly find heaps of horror stories of people losing big.

Also, for what it is worth, next time you're in a casino - take a look at the history boards on the Roulette wheels, you won't have to stand there long before you see a run of 13+ of all red or all black (the most I've seen personally is 19, but runs of around 16 are fairly common).

Answer 3

No. You are ultimately going to lose. Red/Black bets pay equal money, but you aren't 50% to win. Since the wheel has at least one 0 (most have a 0 and 00), you are about 47% to win your bet. This means you will ultimately lose in the long term.

Answer 4

If you had an infinite bankroll and there were no table limits. Then yes, but the problem is the table limit and the reality of a limited bankroll.

You can improve your chances by waiting for a streak to begin before betting against it, i.e. waiting for 5 blacks in a row before betting on red.

Answer 5

you may ultimately win, but higher chances are you will probably lose.  all roulette tables have maximum bet limits.  if you keep doubling your bet, chances are you will go over the maximum bet after a few rounds.

i tried this strategy a couple times in vegas and i lost enough money that i have boycotted roulette for the rest of my life.  just think:  if it were this easy, everyone would do it.

Answer 6

You will lose if you bet black, but red is a different story.