It is generally accepted that the strategy as we know it today is due to the French mathematician Paul Pierre LΓ©vy. He probably introduced his probability theory of Martingale in the 20th century.
The strategy was then made most famous by perhaps the most famous gambler and con artist of all time β the Englishman Charles Wells. He is said to have used the Martingale strategy to break the bank in the Monte Carlo casino several times, from which he gradually took away 1,000,000 francs (over 290 million in today’s crowns). His story then inspired Fred Gilbert to write the song The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.