The trouble with mathematical approaches to gambling is that while the expected value is taken into account, the emotional value of a bet is rarely considered.
Take a lottery for example - from an expected value point of view it is of course foolish to play most of the time. But the emotional value to the player - he can spend a few dollars and spend the night imagining what he might do with his winnings. That's good value!
With that in mind, I plan to play the martingale next time i go to Las Vegas. I will place a bet of a hundred dollars and rebet until I win a hundred dollars or lose 6300 dollars.
When I win I shall enjoy dinner and drinks courtesy of the casino and feel very good 63 out of 64 nights. Once in a while I'll lose $6300 and feel terrible, but emotional value is summed quite differently to expected value, so it won't out weight the wins.