Martingale is not that effective if you are just using it as a martingale strategy itself. I'm using that strategy but I'm mixing it with other strategy that I think is effective in winning. I believe martingale is a technique that can give you profit long term and not on a short amount of time. Of course it will depend on your base bet on how much profit you will earn but yeah I can consider it as slow profit technique. Also always remember about the house edge which keeps this strategy hard to use, You will be hit by the house edge the longer you stay in the casino so be just be careful on using it. It's not a technique for everyone.
Agree, using only the martingale technique alone is just a means of prolonging your illusion and losing in seconds what took hours to achieve.
You need to know how to manage your funds very well, the risks of the game and know when to stop.
However, instead of the Martingale I recommend you to use another strategy (which also shouldn't be used alone)... it's Fibonacci, where the next bet must always be equal to the sum of the last two previous ones (1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 5, and so on).
This means that the method of betting on a roulette table with the Fibonacci technique will be to gradually increase the amount from round to round, following the sequence. The objective is to keep a close eye on gains and losses, to recover from losses little by little and to know when you are ahead.
The benefit of this method is that it is simple to apply and involves less risk than other systems, as the raise is less aggressive.