5 Surprising Facts About Gambling
Gambling is an interesting psychological phenomenon, and there has been extensive research on how psychological processes affect gambling behavior. Here are 5 interesting gambling phenomena.
Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D., is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology and former Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College. Professor Riggio is the author of over 100 books, book chapters, and research articles in the areas of leadership, assessment centers, organizational psychology, and social psychology.
Editor: Saad Shaheed
1. Being in a Good Mood Leads to Increased Gambling
A recent study found a relationship between things that cause a positive mood (# of days of sunshine; success of local sports teams) and increased gambling. The explanation was that a positive mood leads to more risk-taking.
2. Gambler’s Fallacy
So, a roulette player watches as 7 black numbers come up in a row, so he puts all of his money on red. This well-known psychological process is called the gambler’s fallacy and is the mistaken belief that if an event happens repeatedly, a different event is imminent. In reality, the odds of any particular event occurring are always the same.
3. Changing Expectations Regarding Winning
In a clever study, racetrack bettors were asked to estimate the odds that their favored horse would win, both before and after betting on the horse. After placing their bets, gamblers tended to believe that their horse had a greater chance of winning than before they bet. The increased commitment, caused them to be more hopeful.
4. The Bandwagon Effect
When lottery jackpots reach record levels and garner a great deal of media attention, there is a frenzy of ticket buying, as people decide that they don’t want to be left out of the process. At these times, even people who have never before played the lottery will “jump on the bandwagon” and purchase some tickets.
5. Gambling Systems & Superstitions.
Gambling is, by its very definition, a random event. Yet, many gamblers firmly believe that they can devise a system to win at gambling. This includes trying to predict patterns in random numbers (there are none), trying to select “hot” slot machines and avoid “cold” ones (e.g., continuing to play a machine because it is “hot;” playing a machine that hasn’t paid off in a long time, thinking it’s “due”), or performing some ritualistic behavior in order to keep getting wins (I know of several gamblers who tap slot machines with a lucky “talisman”).
As you know, gambling can be terribly addicting, and these psychological processes often work to increase that addiction. Neuroscience research has found that gambling addiction has many of the same neural processes as drug addiction.
A key to breaking a gambling addiction is to break down fallacies about gambling and learn to manage the addiction. There are a number of very good websites and hotlines to help deal with gambling addiction, including the National Council on Problem Gambling.