Jean-Yves Jouannais : L'Encyclopédie des guerres

Entry: " Martingale (winning formula)", excerpt: "I had won four or five hundred ducats from one General Wrbna, from one Count Desoffi, and from three other officers the day before the Battle of Breslau. I had lost two thousand to Rodény, Thomassoly, Gablosson and Blanckenstein, who are still alive. The next day, I asked myself how these gentlemen were faring. Those who owed me money had been killed; the others were in fine fettle."

Charles-Joseph de Ligne, Mémoires du prince de Ligne, published by Mercure de France, Le Temps retrouvé coll., 2004, Paris, p. 199.