Within-session loss- and win-chasing in online gambling

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Author(s): Chen, Zhang ; Doekemeijer, Roos Arwen ; Noël, Xavier ; Verbruggen, Frederick

Journal: PLoS One

Year Published: 2022

Date Added: November 17, 2022

Loss-chasing is the tendency to continue or intensify gambling after losing. People who gamble may chase losses within a single session or between sessions. The researchers examined three behaviours of within-session loss-chasing. The researchers used data from the online commercial game Mystery Arena. Data from 2014 to March 2020 on 2713 people were randomly selected by the game operator and provided to the researchers. People were divided into low- and high-involvement groups. The researchers found that both groups were less likely to stop a session after winning. People were more likely to change their stake after losing. However, they increased their stake after winning when they made a change in stake. Therefore, people showed win-chasing instead of loss-chasing in these two behavioural aspects. After losing, both groups gambled more quickly. This showed loss-chasing. But, gambling outcomes had a smaller impact on the speed of gambling for people in the high-involvement group.

Citation: Chen, Z., Doekemeijer, R. A., Noël, X., & Verbruggen, F. (2022). Winning and losing in online gambling: Effects on within-session chasing. PLoS ONE, 17(8), e0273359. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273359

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273359

Keywords: chasing ; chasing losses

Conceptual Framework Factors: Gambling Types ; Types - Structural Characteristics ; Psychological - Judgement and Decision Making

Study Design: Secondary Data Analysis

Study Population: The researchers used data from the online game Mystery Arena. The game operator provided data from 2713 people, covering the period from 2014 to March 2020. The researchers used this dataset to create two groups: low-involvement and high-involvement. A total of 910 people were in the low-involvement group. About 55% were men, and on average, people in this group were 37 years old. A total of 1803 people were in the high-involvement group. Most were men (55%) and were an average age of 40 years old.

Sampling Procedure: The researchers used data from the online game Mystery Arena. The game is operated by Gaming1. In total, data from 2713 people were randomly selected by Gaming1 and provided to the researchers. Data on their gambling behaviour covered the period from 2014 to March 2020.

Study Funding:

This study was supported by an ERC Consolidator Grant (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme), and the Methusalem Project 01M00221 (Ghent University) awarded to Frederick Verbruggen. Zhang Chen is supported by a Postdoctoral fellowship of the Scientific Research Foundation - Flanders, Belgium. Xavier Noël is supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgium and research funding from BAGO (Belgian Association of Gaming Operators).